AHRQ is one of the forces transforming health care and reshaping the pharmaceutical market place. They are revisiting barriers in asthma care:

lack of familiarity with and/or agreement with the guidelines,

lack of confidence in being able to carry out the best practice,

inability to overcome clinical inertia related to previous practices,

external barriers such as time constraints in the office

 patient preference, and

lack of tools or support to carry out the recommendations.

What is new is the opportunity to submit comments to AHRQ on evidence, sources of evidence or other approaches that have helped physicians implement guidelines so that the patients receive the best care.   AHRQ has requested public comments on 3 key questions related to physician adherence to asthma guidelines.  They have cited barriers that were identified in research in 2004-2007 and are seeking input on more current evidence related to interventions that increase adherence to guidelines and are linked to better patient outcomes. If you have positive experiences with evidence that improves asthma patient care and outcomes that should be included in your comments.

You can find the AHRQ form and the background paper by clicking this hyperlink: Asthma and AHRQ.  Please let us know if we can assist you in developing and submitting comments to AHRQ.  SMT multi-disciplinary team has extensive experience with clinical guidelines and links to process and outcomes measure.  Improvements in performance measures can address gaps in care  that can in turn improve appropriate care, expanding market size  by inpelling more patients to receive appropriate pharmacologic care.  

For more information on SMT and on our Public Comment service please feel free to contact us.