Healthcare IT Resource Website

The U.S. Health and Humans Services' (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ, Rockville, MD, USA) has launched a new suite of "learning resources” designed to help healthcare providers adopt health information technologies (IT) quickly and effectively.

The step represents a new phase for the AHRQ National Resource Center on Health Information Technology, as the agency acts quickly to convey the lessons learned through AHRQ-funded projects and other sources.

"The goal is simple--help healthcare providers at the ground level learn from
each other's real-world experience and give them easy access to the best information available,” stated AHRQ director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "For providers, especially those in smaller practices, adoption of health IT can be challenging on many levels.”

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has made advancing health information technology a major initiative to use electronic health records and information to control costs and reduce medical errors. The resource center site provides emerging lessons from the field; a knowledge library with links to more than 5,000 health IT information resources; an evaluation toolkit to help those implementing health IT projects; a summary of major topics; plus other resources pointing to current health IT activities, funding opportunities, and other information.

"This is a learn-as-you-go project,” Dr. Clancy said. "The President [Bush] and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt have made health IT adoption an urgent priority. We're not waiting for perfect information. We'll make good information available as we learn it.”



Related Links:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality