1. AHRQ Health IT Portfolio
$60M initiative:
$26M: to implement proven technologies in small and rural communities where HIT penetration has been low
$24M: targeted for developing, implementing, and evaluating the use of new and innovative technologies to improve patient safety and quality of care in diverse health care settings
$10M: targeted for clinical data standards and interoperability

2. AHRQ Projects Transforming Health Care Quality thru IT (THQIT)
State and Regional Demonstration of Health IT
AHRQ’s National Resource Center for Health IT
CMS-AHRQ Health IT Collaborations
Indian Health Service
ePrescribing Pilots
Legal, Privacy and Security Issues
Health IT Standards

3. Statistics
40 million – total population (regions and communities) with AHRQ HIT projects
THQIT Grants -
~1,000 letters of intent to apply
108 Projects in over 40 states
National Resource Center
$18.5 Million contract

4. Transforming Healthcare Quality thru Information Technology (THQIT)
Three interlocking grant programs
Launched in 2004
103 separate grants composed of:
Planning
Implementation
Value
Focus on community partnerships

5. THQIT Project Characteristics: demographics and populations served
Key characteristics:
57 percent rural by RFA’s definition (76 % of planning)
12 percent inner-city (18 % implementation)
8 percent children’s health
7 percent women’s health
Other populations served:
Women
Disabled
Elderly
Minorities
THQIT: Rural Projects

6. THQIT Findings: prioritized project goals
Issues listed as priority (all projects)
Improve health care outcomes: 88 percent
Reduce medical errors: 82 percent
Improve inter provider communication: 78 percent
Improve clinical work flow: 61 percent
Reduce cost of care: 49 percent
Improve administrative efficiency: 35 percent
Improve patient satisfaction: 33 percent
Prioritized goals (% of projects) yellow: value
blue: implementation red: planning

7. State & Regional HIT Demonstrations
Five-year state-based contracts:
Help states develop secure statewide networks
Ensure privacy of health information
Make an individuals’ health information more available to health care providers
FY04: Five states awarded $1M/year
Colorado
Indiana
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Utah

8. AHRQ National Resource Center for Health Information Technology
Provide technical & expert support to Health IT grantees, contractors and selected other federal grantees
Contract award to NORC (up to $18.5M over 5 yrs)
In partnership with:
Vanderbilt University
Center for IT Leadership (Partners)
Indiana University
Foundation for the eHealth Initiative
CSC
Burness Communications

9. National Resource Center: an emerging role in providing assistance
State and regional efforts – one to two day mtgs
Efforts to date
Florida -
Montana
New York City
Significant Interest
Community Health Centers
Sharing of best practices, technical assistance and expert advice

10. For additional questions, please contact:
Scott Young, M.D.,