Dr. Clancy said AHRQ's health IT initiative will help deliver this kind of information. The $166 million initiative includes more than 100 projects where health IT systems are being implemented, with an emphasis on systems in community-based health care settings, using commercially available systems. The AHRQ initiative was launched in September 2004, and most projects have 3-year duration.

The AHRQ-sponsored research will yield scientifically valid information that will share the experiences of typical providers in implementing health IT systems. This includes both the impact on quality and safety of care as well as the organizational impact of implementing health IT systems.


"AHRQ's initiative is a real-world laboratory, showing how health IT can be used successfully in typical health care settings," Dr. Clancy said. "The experiences of our grantees will be shared broadly to help all health care providers more successfully adopt health IT."

Findings from the AHRQ projects are being made available through the AHRQ National Resource Center for Health Information Technology, at http://www.healthit.ahrq.gov.

The report was prepared by the Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center-RAND Corporation, one of 13 evidence-based practice centers supported by AHRQ. Another study released last year by a separate group of RAND researchers estimated that wide adoption of electronic medical records and other health IT could save more than $81 billion annually and improve the quality of care.

The report was requested and funded by AHRQ and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion also provided financial support. Others requesting the report were HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Leapfrog Group, an organization of health care purchasers.

The report is available at http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/hitsyscosts/hitsys.pdf (PDF file, 570 KB; PDF Help). In addition, an interactive database providing access to the studies reviewed as part of the report will be available at http://healthit.ahrq.gov/tools/rand.

An article summarizing the report will be published in the May 16 edition of Annals of Internal Medicine. It also will be available starting April 11 at http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/0000605-200605160-00125v1.

Internet Citation:New Information Will Help Health Care Providers Adopt Health IT. Press Release, April 11, 2006. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2006/hitcostpr.htm

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