Guidelines and Measures Updates

Information about the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC)

A study launched in August 2018 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will help identify new models for disseminating and accessing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. The 12-month project is intended to build on AHRQ’s previous support for the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC).

The study, to be conducted by The MITRE Corporation, will explore innovative approaches to make evidence readily discoverable, accessible, and usable to support improved patient outcomes. Viable models will be defined by a commitment to core elements such as free public access, advertising-free content, upholding of copyright permissions, and adherence to trustworthiness standards established by the Institute of Medicine. The study will also identify organizations with the potential to satisfy those standards.

AHRQ’s study follows the July 16, 2018, closure of the NGC. The NGC was originally created in 1998 by AHRQ in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans (now America's Health Insurance Plans). This partnership ended in 2002. The contract that supported the NGC ended August, and funds to continue support for the NGC were unavailable.

For more information, please contact Mary Nix, Mary.Nix@ahrq.hhs.gov.

Guideline Submission Notice

Funding to support AHRQ's NGC contract ended on July 16, 2018. To allow time for summaries and National Guideline Clearinghouse Extent Adherence to Trustworthy Standards (NEATS) assessments to be posted to the NGC Web site by July 2018, guidelines were no longer accepted for inclusion as of March 5, 2018. Additional information will be posted when AHRQ can announce next steps for NGC.