AHCPR searches for new ways to define quality

The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) in Rockville, MD, is looking for new ways to define quality inpatient care.

As part of its Evidence-based Practice Center program, researchers will identify indicators related to pediatric admissions, chronic medical conditions, and hospital admissions that could have been avoided with appropriate primary care interventions.

The indicators will become part of AHCPR’s HCUP Quality Indicator database. A team from the University of California at San Francisco and Stanford University will conduct the work.

AHCPR announced other evidence-based practice center assignments, including the efficacy of behavioral dietary interventions to reduce cancer risk and the diagnosis and management of osteoporosis.