AHRQ's Digital Healthcare Research Program

AHRQ's digital healthcare initiative is part of the Nation's strategy to put information technology to work in healthcare. By making health information available electronically when and where it is needed, digital healthcare can improve the quality of care, even as it makes healthcare more cost-effective.

Mission

AHRQ's Digital Healthcare Research Program's mission is to produce and disseminate evidence about how the evolving digital healthcare ecosystem can best advance the quality, safety, and effectiveness of healthcare for patients and their families.

Go to https://digital.ahrq.gov.

Relevance

The Digital Healthcare Research Program at AHRQ provides foundational research to ensure that digital healthcare systems are designed and implemented in ways that improve quality and safety, while not resulting in excessive burden on physicians and other members of the care team. Current research areas include usability, consumer-focused digital healthcare, clinical decision support, safety, patient-reported outcomes, and care transitions.

Audience

The Program provides research results, lessons learned, and other resources that help clinicians, patients, and hospitals as well as some implementers, vendors, and policymakers stay abreast of what digital health strategies are working in digital healthcare settings around the Nation.

Settings of Care

Digital Healthcare Research-funded projects focus on a range of settings including, but not limited to, patients' homes, and ambulatory, inpatient, and long-term care settings. To fulfill its mission, the Program has invested in research grants and contracts awarded to over 289 distinct institutions in 48 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Participating Agencies and Institutions

AHRQ and its community of contractors and grantees have developed tools, resources, and reports describing research findings, best practices, and lessons learned to help healthcare organizations plan for, implement, and evaluate health IT. These tools describe and recommend strategies for addressing some of the common challenges organizations encounter when working with digital healthcare systems. These materials are made available primarily through the Digital Healthcare Research Program website.