AHRQ Innovations Exchange

AHRQ Innovations Exchange

AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange Adds New Focus on Health Care Policy Innovations

The June 6 issue of AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange announces a new expanded scope to included health care policy innovations in addition to its current focus on health care service delivery innovations The featured innovations describe an insurer’s incentive and support structure to stimulate quality improvement, a policy initiative implemented by the State legislature. One such innovation describes three policies implemented by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services that help mental health centers provide consistent, high-quality treatment to people with concurrent mental health and substance abuse disorders. The policies include mandatory screening for both disorders using validated tools, a learning collaborative and evaluations to promote quality improvement, and financial incentives to clinics achieving various service benchmarks. Two statewide evaluations found that the policies have produced positive patient outcomes, achieving significant reductions in substance use and mental health symptoms in the first six months after initiating treatment.   Select to read more profiles of innovations related to on the Health Care Innovations Exchange Web Site, which contains more than 700 searchable innovations and 1,500 QualityTools.