Wednesday, March 19, 2008

AHRQ Awards $5 Million

AHRQ awards $5 million for two contracts for two years to develop clinical decision support tools. The Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Yale University School of Medicine will each receive $2.5 million and will use the funding to incorporate clinical decision support across the health IT vendor community. The projects will focus on translating clinical guidelines and outcomes related to preventive health care and treatment of patients with multiple chronic illnesses.

Researchers will build on effective clinical decision support tools and identify preferred methods and processes for incorporating these tools into electronic medical records with the goal to increase the use of EMRs in busy practice settings.

The research will assess potential benefits and drawbacks of clinical decision support services including effects on patient satisfaction, measures of efficiency, costs, and risks. Researchers will also evaluate methods for creating, storing, and replicating clinical decision support elements across multiple clinical sites and ambulatory practices.