National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
Latest available findings on quality of and access to health care
Data
- Data Infographics
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- Data Tools
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- All-Payer Claims Database
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)
- Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
- AHRQ Quality Indicator Tools for Data Analytics
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- United States Health Information Knowledgebase (USHIK)
- Data Sources Available from AHRQ
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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
21 to 30 of 41 Tools and Resources DisplayedThis 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.
In this webinar, American Medical Association (AMA) staff discuss how primary care practices can implement each of the 7 steps for implementing self-measured blood pressure (SMBP): (1) Identify patients for SMBP; (2) Confirm device validation and cuff size; (3) Train patients; (4) Have patients perform SMBP; (5) Average results; (6) Interpret results; and (7) Document plans and communicate to patients.
This online tutorial introduces health care professionals and others to the principles of evidence-based practice that uses the current best evidence combined with clinical expertise and patient values and preferences to guide care decisions.
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.
A video story of Willie Morgan, a patient, who talks about the importance of working closely with his pharmacist to manage his chronic conditions. The Tennessee Heart Health Network disseminates patient stories in their newsletters to healthcare professionals and shares them with their Patient Advisory Councils to support patient engagement in quality improvement.
This practical guide shows practices how to start forming partnerships with patients and family advisors (PFAs) to improve primary care. It provides practice assessment, progress tracking, and PFA recruitment and selection tools.
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 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.