EvidenceNOW Practice Facilitators Face Data-Related Challenges, Study Finds

Primary care practices need support to conduct data-driven quality improvement activities, especially when they have trouble extracting reliable data from electronic health records, a new AHRQ-funded study concluded. The study, based on interviews with participants in AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW initiative, was published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. It found that practice facilitators, who serve as quality improvement consultants, face challenges when clinical data are missing, incomplete or inaccurate. Facilitators respond to these challenges by using other data sources or tools to fill in for missing data; approximating performance reports and generating patient lists; and teaching practices how to document care. EvidenceNOW is an AHRQ grant initiative that helps small- and medium-sized practices use the latest evidence to improve heart health, supporting the Department of Health and Human Services’ Million Hearts® campaign. Access the abstract.