National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
Latest available findings on quality of and access to health care
Data
- Data Infographics
- Data Visualizations
- Data Tools
- Data Innovations
- All-Payer Claims Database
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)
- Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
- AHRQ Quality Indicator Tools for Data Analytics
- State Snapshots
- United States Health Information Knowledgebase (USHIK)
- Data Sources Available from AHRQ
Search
Key Drivers
Change Strategies
EvidenceNOW: Tools and Resources
The Agency for Healthcare and Quality (AHRQ) offers practical, research-based tools and other resources to help a variety of health care origanizations, provider, and others make care safer in all health care settings. AHRQ's evidence-based tools and resources are used by organizations nationwide to improve the quality, safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of health care. Improving health care quality by increasing the capacity of small primary care practices to implement the best clinical evidence is our aim. These tools and resources can be searched by the key drivers and the change strategies of the EvidenceNOW Key Driver Diagram.
Results
11 to 20 of 28 Tools and Resources DisplayedDeveloped by an international committee of experts, this resource outlines a systematic approach to adapting practice guidelines produced for one setting to the needs or situation at another organization or setting.
This resource explains the purpose and process of workflow mapping in a primary care setting. It includes important activities to map, questions to consider in workflow redesign, and tips for implementing and sustaining new workflows.
This modifiable flow chart allows practices to adapt steps to reflect the practice’s preferred protocol for controlling hypertension in adult patients, including blood pressure goals and medication names.
A tool to help primary care practices screen and refer patients for social needs such as food or housing, so-called social determinants of health (SDOH) which, when identified, can help tailor care to patients’ circumstances.
Standing orders allow patient care to be shared among non-clinician members of the care team. This overview explains how standing orders empower both clinical and non-clinical staff and provides examples of standing orders.
In this podcast, Jim Campbell, MD, explores practical tools for implementing quality improvement activities and creating and sustaining a culture of quality in your organization.
Based on Lean structured problem-solving methods, this tool uses root cause analysis, diagramming process changes, and measuring implementation progress and effectiveness of changes to help primary care practices maximize efficiency and good outcomes.
This executive summary introduces the Model for Improvement and Lean. It addresses how to use measurement and data to drive improvement in primary care, optimize health information technology (IT), and spread and sustain change. It links to two implementation guides.
This primer includes short descriptions of the following continuous quality improvement (QI) approaches: Model for Improvement, Lean, Six Sigma, and the Baldridge Quality Model.
This toolkit consists of 10 tools and templates—with instructions and examples—for primary care practices to use to improve quality. Tools include: cause and effect diagram, failure modes and effects analysis, histogram, Pareto chart, and scatter diagram.