The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has issued a program announcement detailing the Agency's priority interests for research, demonstration, dissemination, and evaluation projects. Researchers should use these priorities to guide their development of investigator-initiated grant applications.
AHRQ is interested in research on a wide range of topics organized under the Agency's priority program areas: supporting improvements in health outcomes, strengthening quality measurement and improvement, and identifying strategies to improve access, foster appropriate use, and reduce unnecessary expenditures. Potential research topics include:
AHRQ encourages research using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), and other AHRQ data.
AHRQ's research agenda includes a special focus for health services research on a number of populations: low-income groups, racial and ethnic minority groups, women, children, the elderly, individuals with special health care needs, and people living in inner-city, rural, and frontier areas.
AHRQ also encourages partnerships with public and private organizations to facilitate development and sharing of scientific knowledge and resources, including cost-sharing mechanisms; projects that will produce results within 2-3 years; and results that can be integrated rapidly into practice and policy. Research topics in areas that are not discussed in the program announcement also will be considered, but they must contribute to the Agency's goals and initiatives.
Full details, including the names of Agency staff who can be contacted for further information can be found online at Funding Opportunities (see PA-00-111).