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Today, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a  to establish state-based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives, representing a historic investment to accelerate the implementation and dissemination of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) into health care delivery through improvements in health care policy, payment, and practice, and to reduce health care disparities, especially among people who receive Medicaid, are uninsured, and/or are medically underserved.

“Every American should be able to get the care they need—and every hospital and health facility should have the best available tools to do the job. By supporting states and local health care systems with the best data and research, we can achieve better health outcomes and advance health equity,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “HHS is making this important new investment to improve the delivery of care for people who are underinsured or medically underserved, with an initial emphasis on behavioral health. This is all part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing effort to make smart investments that help people get innovative, high-quality care.”

“Recognizing that all health care is local, with wide variation based on geography and demographics, AHRQ’s Healthcare Extension Cooperatives provide scaffolding to local health care transformation by fostering improvements in health care policy, payment, and practice,” said AHRQ Director Dr. Robert Valdez. “This initiative aims to use data, PCOR clinical evidence, and stakeholder input to align payment and other incentives, reduce local barriers, and address urgent health care issues, leading to improved health care by reducing the time from scientific innovation to routine clinical practice.”       

AHRQ will award up to 15 grants to establish and support state-based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives, over five years. To support an initial initiative focused on behavioral health, Cooperatives will:

• Engage key stakeholders such as Medicaid; Medicaid managed care organizations; clinicians and staff from safety-net health care delivery organizations; and patients, families, and caregivers who receive care from safety-net health care delivery organizations and are members of uninsured and/or medically underserved populations. 
• Work with health care policy, payment, community, care delivery, and research organizations to build their capacity to implement patient-centered, evidence-based health care delivery improvements and support ongoing learning through training and other tools. 
• Conduct evaluations of the Cooperative's activities.
• Provide the support structure to ensure these activities are integrated and aligned. 

In the coming weeks, AHRQ will announce two additional NOFOs to support Cooperatives. One NOFO will support a National Coordinating Center (NCC). The central role of the NCC will be to provide Cooperatives with a wide range of support, resources, and collaborative guidance and to convene Cooperatives to facilitate mutual learning in real time.

The second NOFO will create an independent National Evaluation Center (NEC) to provide a detailed understanding of how health care extension services vary across Cooperatives, assess the impact and equity of these models, identify contextual factors associated with recipient success, and document the barriers and facilitators to the delivery of health care extension services.

The three components of AHRQ’s Healthcare Extension Service should significantly reduce the time from evidence generation to clinical practice. As AHRQ learns more about supporting states in transforming health care delivery, the agency anticipates expanding this initiative to all states.

AHRQ's Healthcare Extension Service is funded through a major investment from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund, established by Section 6301 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to advance the evidence behind medical decision-making.

This initiative addresses the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund Strategic Framework’s mission, goals, vision, and priorities and aligns with AHRQ's broader and unique scientific mission of improving the quality of care patients receive by making it safer, more effective, efficient, equitably distributed, and of higher value.

Applications for the state-based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives are open until December 12, 2024. The funding opportunity is posted at . For more information, visit www.ahrq.gov.

Contact: HHS Press Office 
(202) 690-6343

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