Sally C Morton

Updates the policy context of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) patient safety initiative; documents the priorities and activities being undertaken; lays out an evaluation framework and possible measures of the effects on patient outcomes and on stakeholders other than patients. Discusses implications of the findings for future AHRQ policy, programming, and research; suggests ways to strengthen AHRQ activities.

In September 2002, RAND contracted with the U. S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to serve as the evaluation center for its national patient safety initiative. This report assesses the context and goals that were the foundation for the initiative, documents the baseline status of the activities being undertaken, and identifies priorities the researchers believe will have the strongest positive impact on the future of AHRQ's patient safety initiative.