The US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has announced a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) to create a new state-based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives to accelerate healthcare improvement.

This initiative represents a significant investment, aimed at expediting the integration of patient-centred outcomes research (PCOR) into healthcare delivery, with a focus on enhancing health policies, payments, and practices.

It also seeks to address healthcare disparities, particularly for uninsured Medicaid recipients and medically underserved communities.

Under the new initiative, AHRQ is set to award up to 15 grants over five years to establish and sustain the Healthcare Extension Cooperatives.

These cooperatives will initially concentrate on behavioural health, involving key stakeholders like Medicaid, as well as Medicaid-managed care organisations and safety-net healthcare providers.

The initiative will also support patients, families, and caregivers from uninsured and medically underserved populations.

In addition, the cooperatives will collaborate with a range of organisations to improve their ability to implement evidence-based, patient-centric healthcare enhancements.

They will also promote continuous learning through training and other resources.

The cooperatives will also conduct evaluations of their activities to ensure a cohesive and aligned support structure.

In the future, AHRQ plans to announce two additional NOFOs to further improve the Cooperatives.

The first will establish a National Coordinating Centre to provide comprehensive support and facilitate collaborative learning among the Cooperatives.

The second will create an independent National Evaluation Centre tasked with assessing the impact and equity of healthcare extension services, understanding variations in services across the Cooperatives, and identifying the challenges and enablers in delivering these services.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said: “By supporting states and local healthcare systems with the best data and research, we can achieve better health outcomes and advance health equity.

“HHS is making this important new investment to improve delivery of care for people who are underinsured or medically underserved, with an initial emphasis on behavioural health.”

AHRQ's Healthcare Extension Service, funded by the PCOR Trust Fund under the Affordable Care Act, is designed to significantly reduce the gap between evidence generation and clinical application.

As AHRQ expands its knowledge on aiding states in healthcare delivery transformations, it anticipates extending this initiative nationwide.

The service aligns with AHRQ's mission to enhance the quality and value of patient care by making it safer, as well as more effective, efficient, and equitably distributed.