AHRQ's initiative on health information technology (health IT) is a key element to the nation's 10-year strategy to bring health care into the 21st century by advancing the use of information technology. The AHRQ initiative includes more than $260 million in grants and contracts in 41 states to support and stimulate investment in health IT, especially in rural and underserved areas. Through these and other projects, AHRQ and its partners will identify challenges to health IT adoption and use, solutions and best practices for making health IT work, and tools that will help hospitals and clinicians successfully incorporate new IT.

As part of the health IT initiative, AHRQ created the AHRQ National Resource Center for Health Information Technology (the National Resource Center) to help the health care community make the leap into the Information Age. In addition to providing technical assistance, the National Resource Center shares new knowledge and findings that have the potential to transform everyday clinical practice. AHRQ's National Resource Center is committed to advancing our national goal of modernizing health care through the best and most effective use of IT.

As new findings and data become available to the health IT community from both the AHRQ portfolio of projects and other sources, they will be shared on this site through future releases of the National Resource Center Health IT Knowledge Repository. Read More

A major component of AHRQ's health IT initiative is a nationwide learning laboratory of more than 100 hospitals, physician practices, research institutes, nursing homes, and collaboratives immersed in developing and testing new health IT applications that will change the way millions of Americans experience health care. This ambitious enterprise is supported by $260 million in grants. Read More

Six States that have been awarded contracts totaling $30 million from AHRQ are leading the way in health IT implementation by building statewide and regional health information exchanges. Read More