``The AHRQ Data Inventory'' Proposed Project

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is interested in determining the availability of regularly collected administrative and other data collection initiatives about outpatient health service utilization. AHRQ seeks to better understand issues in developing data collection initiatives, redundancies in these initiatives, uses of available data, gaps in available information, similarities across data projects, and areas for possible collaboration and coordination. AHRQ's initial focus is on those data sets that would inform healthcare providers, policymakers, and consumers about outpatient health service utilization and episodes of care. The primary purpose of this information collection is to comprehensively document outpatient health care data collection initiatives in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other geographic units. Information being collected about the data sets is not readily available to the public. In-depth information about the data sets will provide guidance to AHRQ on the potential synergy across such initiatives and suggest how the information can inform Federal, State, and local health care policymakers, clinicians, and consumers. Information collected during the interviews will comprehensively document outpatient health care data collection initiatives.