AHRQ Safety Program for Telemedicine

The AHRQ Safety Program for Telemedicine is a national effort to develop and implement a bundle of evidence-based interventions designed to improve telemedicine care in two settings—the cancer diagnostic process and antibiotic use. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recognizes both the promise and potential risks of telemedicine as it expands across the United States. The program will combine evidence-based guidance with implementation strategies to improve the cancer diagnostic process and antibiotic use within a telemedicine setting by developing a culture of patient safety and improving communication and teamwork between healthcare providers (HCPs) and staff and among HCPs and patients. Overall, this program helps practices apply proven best practices in the telemedicine environment to improve the cancer diagnostic process or antibiotic use.

The AHRQ Safety Program for Telemedicine provides practices with evidence-based patient safety practices, individualized expert coaching, and technical assistance from physician subject matter experts to support practices in the following areas:

• Understanding the science of safety and how it applies to the cancer diagnostic process and antibiotic use
• Improving teamwork and communication
• Designing and implementing interventions to improve the cancer diagnostic process and antibiotic use within a telemedicine setting

This program will involve two cohorts of healthcare professionals who utilize telemedicine as a care delivery model. The first cohort, focused on improving the cancer diagnostic process, will include telehealth practices in adult and family primary care, gynecology, and community-based health clinics who regularly provide cancer diagnoses. The second cohort, focused on antibiotic use, will include a diversity of primary care practices.

This program is funded and guided by AHRQ and implemented by NORC at the University of Chicago, the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, and Baylor College of Medicine.