The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) funded seven R24s under PA-12-114 that proposed to improve health outcomes by developing and disseminating evidence-based information to patients, clinicians, policy makers, and health care administrators, responding to their expressed needs about which clinical and health system design interventions are most effective for which patients under specific circumstances. Our objective is to host a series of conferences in which evidence-based information and tools developed by the R24 Network are summarized and disseminated to support enhancement of the Learning Healthcare System and Learning Health Care Community models to improve the outcomes, quality, access, and efficiency of health care in America. The conference topic, ?Making Learning Healthcare Systems More Patient-Centered,? exemplifies our approach to sharing what works across our collective breadth and depth of patient-centered research expertise: Providing relevant and replicable patient-centered examples of evidence-based practices within a community of continual sharing and learning where patient and stakeholder engagement is essential.
We aim to (1) build on the R24 Network's established momentum to extend the capacity of CER and PCOR within a learning health care community; (2) develop partnerships with stakeholder organizations and build their capacity to participate in research activities and use the results of health services research; (3) disseminate and implement health services research information and tools on emerging best practices; and (4) increase the awareness of and involvement in evidence-based, patient-centered research by community-engaged researchers (CEnR), patient family advisory councils (PFAC), and other community and stakeholder partners to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable and affordable. Successful conference outcomes include increasing awareness and understanding of patient-centered outcomes research by disseminating evidence-based outcomes and providing examples of best practices, which has the potential to change concepts, methods, and technologies among both member institutions and the community; and advancing implementation and expertise of evidence-based results.
In order for researchers and clinicians to improve patient-centered, evidence-based approaches to advancing the Learning Healthcare System and shared decision-making models, there must be engagement and a true partnership of all stakeholder groups, including consumers and patients; health care systems, institutions, providers, and payers; and health policymakers in both the private and public sectors. The proposed conferences will disseminate best practices and lessons learned from all seven AHRQ- funded PCOR R24 Network organizations and describe how to incorporate patient and stakeholder engagement as an integral part of a Learning Healthcare System.
