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About the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange

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The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality created the Health Care Innovations Exchange to speed the implementation of new and better ways of delivering health care. The Innovations Exchange supports the Agency's mission to improve the quality of health care and reduce disparities.

The AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange offers busy health professionals and researchers a variety of opportunities to share, learn about, and ultimately adopt evidence-based innovations and tools suitable for a range of health care settings and populations.

The AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange Web site has the following components:

  • Searchable innovations. Profiles of successful and attempted innovations describe the innovative activity, its impact, how the innovator developed and implemented it, and other useful information for deciding whether to adopt the innovation.
  • Searchable QualityTools. Practical tools that can help you assess, measure, promote, and improve the quality of health care.
  • Learning opportunities. Many resources describing the process of innovation and adoption, and ways to enhance any organization's receptivity to innovative approaches to care. Resources include expert commentaries, articles, perspectives, and adoption guides.
  • Networking opportunities. You can interact with innovators and organizations that have adopted innovations to learn new approaches to delivering care, and develop effective strategies for changing care delivery. You can connect with innovators by participating in Web Events that focus on cutting-edge innovations and by posting comments on specific innovations. User comments may ask or respond to questions about how an innovation works, and mention additional resources and lessons learned from adopting, implementing, and sustaining an innovation.

Who Uses the Health Care Innovations Exchange?

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A diverse group of individuals uses the Innovations Exchange, ranging from nurses and health administrators to policymakers and researchers.

Pie chart showing percentage of users of Innovations Exchange website based on results of the American Customer Satisfaction Index: 29% Nurses, 18% Researchers, 15% self-identified as "Other," which includes quality improvement professionals, nurse practitioners, etc.), 12% Health administrators, 6% Physicians, 6% Other clinicians, 5% Educators, 5% Students, and smaller percentages of the audiences policymakers and patients or consumers.

Who Guides the Health Care Innovations Exchange?

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The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) contracts with Westat, a research and consulting firm in Rockville, Maryland, to operate and maintain the Innovations Exchange. Two groups of experts provide guidance to Westat and AHRQ to ensure that the information and services provided by the Innovations Exchange meet the needs of users.

Expert Panel

Composed of 13 nationally-known experts in health care delivery and innovation, the Expert Panel provides strategic guidance on key aspects of the Innovations Exchange, including:

  • Sources of important and emerging innovations;
  • Partnerships with other organizations to further the dissemination of health care innovations; and
  • Ways to reach and satisfy the many potential audiences for this effort.

Editorial Board

The Editorial Board provides guidance on the selection of content for the Innovations Exchange and key strategies to enhance the adoption and implementation of innovations. The six members of the Board are nationally-known editors and authors on health care quality, evidence-based science, implementation science, disparities, and innovations.

Members of the Editorial Board also help identify and recruit expert commentators in such areas as health service delivery, quality improvement, disparities reduction, organizational change, health professional education, health care administration, and informatics.

Learn more about our experts.

Last updated: April 25, 2012.