The mission of managed care pharmacy is to get the right medication to the right patient, with the right instructions for use, at the right time, at the right price, and to achieve the right outcomes. Fortunately for those in the profession of managed care pharmacy, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has developed resources available for use by health care professionals to improve the quality of care provided to patients. AHRQ is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care. www.ahrq.gov.
    Some resources available to those in managed care pharmacy include:

• AHRQ National Quality Measures Clearinghouse— A web-based public repository for evidence-based quality measures and measure sets. www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov
• Quality Tools through Innovations Exchange— An Innovation Exchange program created to assist health care professionals in adopting innovations to improve the delivery of health care. A highlight of this program is the Quality Tools section. Quality Tools offers tools for assessing, measuring, promoting and improving the quality of health care. www.innovations.ahrq.gov/qualitytools/
• Tools and Techniques of Improved Medication Use—A tool developed for those in the health care community who design medication safety programs and/or seek information to enhance existing patient safety efforts. This site includes nearly fifty scientific studies that focus on improved medication use and patient compliance, through varied intervention strategies— implementing disease management approaches, educating patients and providers, and monitoring and providing feedback about target populations. www.aahp.org/content/navigationmenu/medcollab/ medcollab.htm
• Effective Health Care Program—A resource dedicated to facilitating decision making by publishing researched-based guides for researchers, clinicians and consumers that provide information about safety, side effects and appropriate use of medications for certain diseases.
  http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.ogv/index.cfm

Health care practitioners in managed care pharmacy should make use of the resources developed through the AHRQ Effective Health Care Program. The goals of this program are to develop evidence on the effectiveness and comparative effectiveness of different treatments and health care interventions of importance to the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Child Health Insurance programs. However, the resources developed may be used in any practice setting. The Effective Health Care Program produces three primary products:

1. Research reviews: These comprehensive reports draw on completed scientific studies to make head-to-head comparisons of different health care interventions. They also show where more research is needed. There are two types of research reviews:
   • Comparative effectiveness and effectiveness reviews outline the effectiveness of treatment options.
     
   • Technical briefs explain what is known, and what is not known, about new or emerging health care tests or treatments.
2. Original research reports: These reports are based on clinical research and studies that use health care databases and other scientific resources and approaches to explore practical questions about the effectiveness of treatments.
3. Summary guides: These short, plain-language guides—tailored to clinicians, consumers, or policymakers— summarize research reviews’ findings on the benefits and harms of different treatment options. Consumer guides provide useful background on health conditions. Clinician and policymaker guides rate the strength of evidence behind a report’s conclusions. The guides on medications also contain basic wholesale price information.

Information on AHRQ resources and other information, resources, and references in the area of quality can be found in the Quality Connections area of the AMCP website at: http://www.amcp.org/amcp. ark?p=23E2B0DD.
For more information on the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s work in the area of quality, please contact Marissa Schlaifer, AMCP Director of Pharmacy Affairs at mschlaifer@amcp.org.