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Notice of Funding Opportunity to Establish State-based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives

To launch its Healthcare Extension Service, AHRQ has issued an initial to award up to 15 grants to establish and support Healthcare Extension Cooperatives over 5 years. The goal of AHRQ's Healthcare Extension Service is to accelerate the dissemination and implementation of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) evidence into healthcare delivery. PCOR compares the impact of two or more preventive, diagnostic, treatment, or healthcare delivery approaches on health outcomes, including those that are meaningful to patients. PCOR findings can help patients and other healthcare stakeholders, such as caregivers, clinicians, insurers, and policy makers, make better-informed decisions about their health and healthcare options.

The Healthcare Extension Service program is designed to enhance healthcare delivery through improvements in healthcare policy, payment systems, and clinical practice, and to reduce healthcare disparities especially among people who receive Medicaid, are uninsured, or are medically underserved. This 5-year program will include three components: Healthcare Extension Cooperatives, a National Coordinating Center, and a National Evaluation Center. The project’s overall goal is to significantly reduce the time span between evidence generation and its use in healthcare delivery.

Healthcare Extension Cooperatives

The initial Notice of Funding Opportunity will award up to 15 grants to establish and support Healthcare Extension Cooperatives over 5 years. The Cooperative's initial focus will be aimed at advancing behavioral healthcare. To support this initiative, the Cooperatives will:

• Engage Medicaid agencies, Medicaid managed care organizations, health system executives, clinicians and staff, patients and families, and other organizations that address the health needs of people who are medically underserved. These groups will help identify and address barriers to better care and identify facilitators to implement patient-centered healthcare delivery improvements based on PCOR evidence.
• Work with healthcare policy, payment, community, care delivery, and research organizations that serve people who are medically underserved to build their capacity to implement patient-centered healthcare delivery improvements based on PCOR evidence.
• Conduct evaluations of the Healthcare Extension Cooperatives’ activities and support ongoing learning.
• Provide the support structure to ensure these activities are integrated and aligned.

In the coming weeks, AHRQ will announce two additional funding opportunity notices for a National Coordinating Center and a National Evaluation Center to support the Healthcare Extension Cooperatives.

National Coordinating Center

The National Coordinating Center will provide individual Healthcare Extension Cooperatives with a wide range of support, resources, and guidance, and will convene Cooperatives to facilitate mutual learning in real time.

National Evaluation Center

An independent National Evaluation Center will provide a detailed assessment of Healthcare Extension Cooperatives’ services, assess the impact and equity of these models, and identify factors associated with successes, as well as barriers to improvement.

These projects will build on AHRQ’s prior Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund investments and leverage AHRQ’s expertise in supporting healthcare transformation and learning health systems. More information is available about PCOR at AHRQ and about AHRQ’s strategic framework for the Agency's PCOR Trust Fund investments.

Access general information about AHRQ funding and grants, including research policies. Select to access more information about the grant application process.

Please direct all inquiries to AHRQ_HES@ahrq.hhs.gov.