ECRI Institute will bring back the National Guideline Clearinghouse database in September on a subscription basis after the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shut down the website July 16 due to a funding cut, a spokesperson for ECRI Institute confirmed to Becker's Hospital Review.
Until its shutdown, the NGC gave users free access to clinical practice guidelines, including standardized abstracts about each guideline and syntheses of guidelines covering similar topics.
ECRI Institute's new guideline resource will include a repository of current evidence-based clinical practice guideline summaries and other information. After the interim website launches this fall, ECRI Institute plans to add additional features.
Users can search and retrieve ECRI's summaries of clinical practice guidelines from guideline developers and review evaluations of these guidelines. Participating guideline developers can access and contribute to the website for free.
The website's second phase will feature advanced search capabilities, support for guideline implementation and decision-making, along with an enhanced user interface.
"ECRI Institute's team of highly trained guideline and measure experts are taking the lead to ensure the global healthcare community has access to guidelines," said Karen Schoelles, MD, director of the ECRI Institute-Penn Medicine Evidence-based Practice Center.
ECRI Institute is an independent nonprofit organization that aims to apply scientific research to help healthcare organizations determine what medical procedures and devices are best for patient care.