AHRQ Issues FOAs for HIT Research

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) www.ahrq.gov as part of HHS has issued two Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) seeking proposed projects to implement and evaluate health information technologies.

The first FOA posted 4/3/17 and due 9/25/17 or 9/25/18 or 9/26/19 is titled “Implementation and Evaluation of New Health Information Technology Strategies for Collecting and Using Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) Measures” (PA-17-247). The total costs for this project to be awarded under FOA PA-17-247 will not exceed $400,000 in any given year or $1.2 million for the entire project period.

AHRQ is interested in studies that develop new health IT strategies for implementing existing PRO measures in ambulatory care environments, including studies to support the care of people with Multiple Chronic Conditions (MCC).

Although collection of PROs is advancing rapidly, little is known on how to best use them in primary care and with the populations served in ambulatory care settings, especially populations with MCC. The complexity and burden of treatments may be so high that adherence is extremely challenging.

Implementing the use of PRO measures as part of standard care has the potential to improve MCC care by orienting clinicians and clinical teams to the outcomes that matter the most to patients.

Due to the expansion of consumer-oriented electronic platforms and technologies, currently, there is the opportunity to develop new, patient-centered health IT strategies for effective PRO implementations.

The second FOA posted 4/3/17 titled “Health Information Technology to Improve Health Care Quality and Outcomes” (PA-17-246) seeks funding applications to conduct exploratory and developmental research for projects in the early and conceptual stages of development.

AHRQ seeks projects that will contribute to the evidence base of how HIT improves healthcare quality and outcomes. The budget for a project awarded under the FOA (PA-17-246 will not exceed $200,000 in any given year or $300,000 for the entire project period.

Eligibility for both FOAs includes public and state controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, state and county governments, nonprofits and for-profits for PA-17-247 but for-profits are not eligible for PA-17-246, plus several other groups.

For PA-17-247 go to https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-17-247.html and go to https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-17-246.html for more information.