Health Services Research at AHRQ
Health services research (HSR) is the field of study that examines the quality, safety, and affordability of healthcare delivery from the perspectives of patients, caregivers, and clinical professionals. HSR examines many facets of healthcare, including organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and financing.
Why HSR Matters
HSR provides the foundation for quality, effectiveness, and value to bridge the gap between what is possible and what is achieved in healthcare.
HSR developed as a field of study in the 1960s, when federal support for healthcare and construction of healthcare facilities grew rapidly. It has played a pivotal role in contributing to health policy and the delivery of healthcare services in the United States.
HSR is important because it touches on all six domains of healthcare quality: care that is safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient centered. Findings from HSR help clinicians and patients make better decisions about care; support healthcare systems design processes to improve safety, effectiveness, and efficacy; and can be used to design healthcare benefits and inform healthcare policy.
Who Supports HSR?
The federal government is the principal funder of HSR in the United States. AHRQ is one of several federal agencies that funds and engages in HSR.
Other funders of HSR include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Health Resources & Services Administration, National Institutes of Health, and Veterans Health Administration. Additionally, although not a federal agency, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute also supports HSR.
HSR is conducted at many universities, academic hospitals, and other research institutions. AcademyHealth is the professional organization devoted to engaging researchers who conduct HSR.
AHRQ and HSR
Highlights of AHRQ's HSR work include:
- Patient-centered outcomes research, which compares the impact of two or more preventive, diagnostic, treatment, or healthcare delivery approaches on health outcomes, including those that are meaningful to patients.
- The Effective Health Care Program, which provides the best available evidence on the benefits and harms of drugs, devices, and healthcare services by partnering with stakeholders to conduct research, evidence synthesis, and dissemination and implementation of evidence.
- Patient safety research, which bridges the gap between research and safer patient care and develops tools and resources to help providers implement the core concepts of safety.
