§299b–37 Dissemination and building capacity for research

Summary

AHRQ must set up an Office of Communication and Knowledge Transfer (or another AHRQ office it chooses) to share widely research from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and other government-funded studies that compare how well treatments and care options work. The Office must make easy-to-use tools and a public database that collect evidence from government, private, nonprofit, and academic sources. It must share findings with doctors, other health care providers, patients, makers of health IT that supports clinical decisions, professional groups, and federal and private health plans. All materials must explain who the research applies to, how the research was done, the research limits, and who did the work. The materials must not be treated as rules for payment, coverage, or treatment. The Office must help health IT users put new findings into practice and make that process easier. It must take feedback from clinicians, patients, health IT vendors, professional groups, and health plans about the usefulness of the information. This does not stop the Institute from making its own findings public as required under section 1320e(d)(8). AHRQ, with NIH, must run a grant program to train researchers in methods like systematic reviews and clinical trials, meeting standards under section 1320e(d)(9). The Secretary must coordinate federal programs to build data systems, such as registries and networks, to link and analyze outcomes from sources including electronic health records. Federal agencies may enter into agreements with the Institute and accept funds to support authorized research.