The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has released a report summarizing the results of the grant initiative, Improving Quality Through Clinician Use of Health IT.
The grant initiative is one of five initiatives under AHRQ's Ambulatory Safety and Quality program, which focuses on the role of health IT in ambulatory healthcare quality and patient safety. The report, "Findings and Lessons From the Improving Quality Through Clinician Use of Health IT Grant Initiative," describes the 24 projects that examined one of four main areas:
1. Providing patient-specific information, clinical knowledge and decision support
2. Supporting clinical workflow
3. Coordinating care
4. Understanding the impact on outcomes
The report concluded that several projects showed positive impacts of health IT on several areas:
1. Process outcomes related to the delivery of evidence-based preventive and chronic care and the use of health IT by clinicians.
2. Intermediate outcomes such as chronic disease control, clinician perceptions of health IT usefulness and clinician satisfaction.
3. Health outcomes such as adverse drug events and functional status.
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