AHRQ Looks To Fund Projects Promoting Safer Health IT Practices

AHRQ is interested in funding projects that will generate evidence on safe health information technology (IT) practices that other federal agencies can use to inform health IT certifications and other forms of policy guidance. AHRQ has issued two funding announcements called Special Emphasis Notices (SENs) following receipt of a fiscal year 2014 appropriation of an additional $4 million in health IT funding for research on the impact of health IT on patient safety. The (R01) SENfocuses on projects that promote post-deployment safety testing of electronic health records (EHRs) for high prevalence, high-impact EHR-related patient safety risks, and focused research demonstration projects that provide evidence to inform the safe use of health IT. The(R21) SEN focuses on applications addressing any of the following:

• Clinical patient safety: Clinical patient safety topics impacted most by health IT
• EHR system integrity: Frequency of and optimal mitigation strategies for EHR downtimes
• Health IT safety reporting: Optimal health IT patient safety reporting strategies

AHRQ will prioritize funding of applications that address at least one of these subjects.