AHRQ handing out $48M in grants for comparative effectiveness research

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has announced that it will provide a series of grants totaling $48 million that can be used to develop national patient registries for comparative effectiveness research. Clinical registries are one of a number of approaches to helping providers identify the long-term effects of treatments, along with clinical data networks and other forms of health IT networking.

This is part of a larger $300 million grant and contract package designed to fund comparative effectiveness projects funded by the federal stimulus package. The AHRQ will offer grants to study treatment benefits focused on 14 common conditions, including diabetes, obesity and heart and blood vessel problems.

AHRQ will also seek $74 million in contracts for analyzing and generating evidence, along with $19.5 million to establish an infrastructure for identifying the right treatment issues to focus on as part of comparative effectiveness reviews.

To learn more about the AHRQ's plans:
- read this Government Health IT piece

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