Update to the "Guidelines for Ensuring the Quality of Information Disseminated to the Public"

In 2015, AHRQ issued an update to its Information Quality Guidelines of 2006.

Section I, Agency Mission: The Agency's mission statement has been updated. The new mission statement is:  The mission of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. 

Section III, Types of Information Disseminated by the Agency to the Public: In the paragraph on "Results of Research Projects," please note that AHRQ no longer publishes the monthly newsletter, Research Activities." 

Section III, Types of Information Disseminated by the Agency to the Public: Edit the paragraph on "Consumer and professional health information," to read as follows:

"AHRQ produces a wide range of print and electronic consumer and professional information. Examples include consumer publications on: various health conditions/diseases, on how to select a health plan, personal health guides, and how to improve the quality of health care you receive as a patient. Examples of publications for professionals include evidence reports on a wide array of clinical topics. Other examples are toolkits that give easy-to-understand guidance on how to implement quality improvements, such as Preventing Pressure Ulcers in Hospitals: A Toolkit for Improving the Quality of Care and the AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit." 

Section IV, Types of Dissemination Methods—In the section on "Print methods include": Delete reference to Research Activities, which is no longer published. 

Section V, Agency Quality Assurance Policies, Standards and Processes for Ensuring the Quality of information Disseminated to the Public: In the subsection "Quality Standards" under "Results of research projects," add the following sentence to the end: "All AHRQ researchers are required to pass annual ethics training, human subjects training, and data security training."