Form #1 Form #1 AHRQ Healthcare Innovations Exchange Innovator Email Sub

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Form Approved
OMB No. 0935-XXXX
Exp. Date XX/XX/20XX

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AHRQ Healthcare Innovations Exchange

Innovator Email Submission Guidelines

Share your innovations

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality invites you to participate in the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange by telling us about your innovative efforts to improve the delivery of health care services. Our Editorial Teams will work with you to produce an accurate description of your initiative. This guidance explains what we are looking for and how you can submit an innovation for consideration.

What we are looking for

The Health Care Innovations Exchange seeks a broad range of novel health care strategies and activities—from multifaceted programs that improve the delivery or management of care to narrowly defined initiatives that focus on a specific aspect of the care process.

To be considered for an Innovation Profile, innovations have to meet six criteria:

• The innovation focuses directly or indirectly on patient care.

• The innovation is intended to improve one or more domains of health care quality.

• The activity is truly innovative in the context of its setting or target population.

• Information about the innovation is publicly available.

• The innovator (or a representative) is willing and able to contribute information to the Health Care Innovations Exchange.

• There is reason to believe that this innovation will be effective.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 30 minutes per response, the estimated time required to complete the survey. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Form Approved: OMB Number 0935-XXXX  Exp. Date xx/xx/20xx. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: AHRQ Reports Clearance Officer Attention: PRA, Paperwork Reduction Project (0935-XXXX) AHRQ, 540 Gaither Road, Room # 5036, Rockville, MD 20850.

Innovations that satisfy all but the last criterion on effectiveness may be presented as Innovation Attempts.

Note that these are minimum requirements; the ultimate decision depends on additional factors, including AHRQ's priorities and the number of similar ideas in the Innovations Exchange.

Why participate in the Health Care Innovations Exchange?

• Contribute to the Greater Good – The Innovations Exchange provides an avenue for you to bring about positive changes in patient care far beyond the walls of your own institution. By sharing your innovation, you will be helping to build a rich resource that will complement and enhance the usefulness of the traditional professional literature on health care services.

• Become a Community Leader – Your contributions will also put you in a position to become part of a nationwide community of health care innovators, who can both learn from you and support your efforts to design and implement innovations in your organization. Some innovators will be invited to serve as faculty for educational events sponsored by the Innovations Exchange.

How to submit an innovation

If you would like to submit a candidate innovation for our consideration, contact the Innovations Exchange at info@innovations.ahrq.gov. Please provide the following information in the e-mail:

• Name of the main organization, along with any other organizations that are participating in the innovation.

• Name and title of the submitter.

• Contact information for the submitter (e-mail address and phone number).

• Brief description of the innovation.

• Brief description of results, including any impact on the delivery of patient care.

• Description of the health care setting (e.g., hospital, community clinic, nursing home).

• Description of the population on which the innovation is focused, if any (e.g., the elderly, children, racial or ethnic group).

• Any funding sources for the innovation.

To help determine what information to send us, you may want to review a summary of the kinds of information we will want to capture in our description of your innovation. See Elements of an Innovations Profile below.

After we review the materials you have submitted, one of the Editorial Teams will contact you for further information if your innovation appears to meet the above minimum criteria.

If your innovation is accepted for inclusion, an Editorial Team will ask you to confirm that you can speak on behalf of any collaborators, and that the Innovations Exchange has permission to link to any pertinent Web sites your organization maintains. We will not proceed with the development of an Innovation Profile or Attempt until we have this confirmation. Once we have the confirmation, we will develop a draft description of the innovation and send it to you for review and comment prior to posting it on the site.

Note about confidentiality: If the innovation you submit is selected for the Innovations Exchange, any information you send may be published on the site as part of the description of the innovation. If you are sending information that needs to remain confidential, please make that clear in your communications with us.

Elements of an Innovation Profile

Element: Description:

Name of Innovation	A title that describes the innovative activity and highlights its impact and what makes it innovative (e.g., the idea itself, the population served, the setting).
Setting	The type of organization where the innovation was implemented (e.g., hospital, health plan, community, nursing home).
Summary	A brief description of: the key elements of the innovation, what makes it innovative (if that is not clear), and the impact or results achieved.
Developing Organizations	A list of all organizations involved in developing the innovation. If appropriate, both primary and secondary developers are listed.
Date First Implemented	The date when the organization first implemented the innovative activity. If the innovation was initially implemented as a pilot, the date could be when the pilot began.
What They Did
Problem Addressed	A brief description of the key problem(s) that the innovation addresses, plus details that support this statement, such as data on the magnitude and impact of the problem. Citations are provided to support any data.
Pertinent Quality Measures	A list of any standardized quality measures that are relevant to the innovation (as evidence of the problem or as measures of performance).
Patient Population	A description of the population affected by the innovation. Variables include gender, age, race/ethnicity, geographic location, disease/condition, and other pertinent characteristics.
Description of the Innovative Activity	A description of the components of the innovation, including the ongoing, day-to-day operations.
References/Related Articles	Complete citations for any related articles and full Web site addresses for links to any other related information.
Contact the Innovator	Name, title, organization, and telephone number and/or e-mail address for someone willing to serve as an ongoing contact for the innovation.
Did It Work?
Results	A description of the overall results of the innovation (specifically, the extent to which the innovation succeeded in addressing the problem outlined earlier), plus a summary of specific key results with supporting data.
Evidence Rating	A rating of the strength of the evidence based on the nature of the study design, and a summary of the nature of the evidence (e.g., a before-and-after comparison). Possible ratings are strong, moderate, suggestive, and unproven. Ratings are given by the Editors.
How They Did It
Context of the Innovation		A brief description of: The organization(s) implementing the innovation, including the type of organization, basic facilities and/or services offered, where it is located, etc. Any unique macro-environmental factors (e.g., regulations, statewide initiatives, national initiatives or programs) that served as motivators and/or had an impact on the innovation’s success or implementation. Any larger initiatives that the innovation may be part of. Any specifics about the local impetus for the innovation.
Planning and Development Process		The key steps involved in the planning and development of the innovation, including upfront planning meetings, use of task forces, training, efforts to gain buy-in from key constituencies, etc.
Resources Used and Skills Needed		Information on the staffing and financial costs of the innovation: Staffing: Where available, includes the number and type of individuals involved in the innovation, emphasizing the amount of incremental staff needed. Costs: Where available, summarizes the overall costs of implementing and sustaining the innovation, and provides a cost breakdown.
Funding Sources		A brief description of where the money came from to fund the innovation, such as an AHRQ grant or contract, a foundation grant, or internal sources. When available, grant/contract/project numbers are also provided to identify specific funding sources.
Tools and Other Resources		Full article citations and Web site links to any publicly available worksheets or other tools related to the innovation.
Adoption Considerations
Getting Started With This Innovation		Advice from the innovator regarding important/essential prerequisites to a successful launch, such as grant funding, staff expertise, the ability to pilot test, and the ability to get the "buy-in" and support of key constituencies.
Sustaining This Innovation		Advice from the innovator regarding what is needed to sustain the innovation over time and maintain momentum, such as ongoing funding, regular monitoring/feedback to foster improvement, staff time, and other necessary resources.
Other Considerations and Lessons		Additional tips, considerations, overall lessons, or otherwise useful information from the innovator that do not fit into the above categories.
Use by Other Organizations		Where available, information on the use of this innovation beyond the organization(s) discussed in this profile.