eHealth Initiative and Partners Awarded AHRQ Contract

Alana Ketchel (202) 223-5593 or Louise Arnheim - eHealth Initiative (202) 624-3274

October 21, 2004

NORC AND PARTNERS AWARDED FEDERAL CONTRACT FOR HIT RESOURCE CENTER

Washington, DC – The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago – and a unique partnership of organizations – has been awarded a multi-million dollar, multi-year contract to establish and operate the National Health Information Technology Resource Center (the National HITRC). This contract was awarded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and was included as part of a broader announcement from DHHS on October 13th 2004.

The National HITRC will support the work of over 100 planning, implementation, evaluation and demonstration projects covering all aspects of HIT funded by AHRQ and other Federal partners. These projects build on the President's initiative to improve the nation's health care system through broad adoption of HIT and Secretary Thompson’s July 2004 release of a Framework for Strategic Action for achieving improvements in health care delivery through HIT. AHRQ grant and contract awardees will explore the potential of HIT to help reduce medication errors; increase sharing of health information between providers, laboratories, pharmacies and patients; ensure safer patient transitions between health care settings; and reduce duplicative and unnecessary testing. In keeping with the Agency’s emphasis on research translation, the National HITRC will also support knowledge transfer, dissemination and the effective adoption of HIT across the health care system.

Co-directing this effort will be Daniel S. Gaylin, Senior Vice President and Director of NORC's Department of Health Survey, Program, and Policy Research, and Michael S. Tilkin, Senior Vice President and NORC’s Chief Information Officer. “We are extremely honored to have the opportunity to lead this important project” says Gaylin. “Our team is excited at the opportunity to assist AHRQ in improving health care through increased use of information technology.”

In addition to NORC’s longstanding commitment to excellence in supporting federal health services research, the projects served by the National HITRC will benefit from the skills of an extraordinary partnership of organizations including:

Expertise and thought leadership of three HIT academic research centers: Indiana University's Regenstrief Institute, The Vanderbilt Center for Better Health and the Center for Information Technology Leadership (CITL) at Partners HealthCare System, Inc.;
Expertise in convening HIT stakeholders and fostering collaboration from the eHealth Initiative Foundation;
Superb technology design and support services from the Computer Sciences Corporation;
Policy-focused public relations services from Burness Communications, and logistical and coordination support from BL Seamon Corporation.

In supporting the government's investment in HIT projects, the National HITRC will deploy direct technical assistance and consulting services to individual projects during all phases of their work to develop and use HIT. Particular focus will be placed on providing services to support challenges facing HIT implementation in rural settings. The National HITRC will also foster collaboration across projects, in part by using an online portal. Tilkin notes that “ The National HITRC's knowledge portal will be designed to serve as a communication hub for grantee activity, facilitate collaboration among stakeholders, and promote the diffusion of knowledge gained through AHRQ's HIT initiative. We see it as creating an on-line community for learning, knowledge sharing, and dissemination of best practices”.

In addition, NORC and its partners will synthesize results across grantees to produce and disseminate a body of knowledge that is more than the sum of its individual parts. In this regard, the eHealth Initiative Foundation will build on its track record of securing the support of healthcare stakeholders to enhance the reach of the National HITRC. eHealth Initiative Executive Director, Janet Marchibroda, notes “Migrating to a healthcare system that leverages HIT to drive improvements in healthcare will require the support of the many, diverse stakeholders in the system including practicing clinicians, hospitals, payers and HIT suppliers. We look forward to engaging the commitment of these stakeholders to help develop and disseminate tools supporting broad migration towards the adoption of HIT”.

The National HITRC will accrue and disseminate a body of knowledge and expertise that will inform the implementation and use of information technologies on a local, regional and national scale. This expertise will be supplied by some of the foremost experts in HIT theory and practice. In particular, Partners CITL, a leader in determining the value of IT, will play a key role in assessing and articulating value for practitioners and policymakers, Regenstrief will provide hands on expertise in HIT implementation, and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Better Health will supply thought leadership on HIT strategy. Vanderbilt’s Mark Frisse, M.D. notes “As a member of this talented and diverse team of professionals, I am convinced that our efforts to improve health information technology will have an enormous impact on the communities served by these awards and to the Nation as a whole”.

NORC is a national organization for research and computing at the University of Chicago – with offices on the University’s campus, in Chicago’s downtown Loop, in Washington, DC, Bethesda, MD as well as a nationwide field staff. NORC’s clients include government agencies, educational institutions, foundations, other non-profit organizations, and private corporations.

For more information on the projects served by the National HITRC please go to http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2004/hhshitpr.htm.

For more information on the eHealth Initiative go to, www.ehealthinitiative.org .