Form #3 Form #3 Annual Follow-up Emails

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Attachment D

AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange

Annual Follow-up Guide

Contacting the Innovator

Beginning approximately 2 months before the due date for the completion of the review, the team contacts each contact person listed in the profile by e-mail using both the authoring tool and regular e-mail. The purpose of this contact is to invite the innovators to submit updates to the information in the profile. The team uses the authoring tool to send the profile link to a Westat team member. The team member then embeds the link in the initial email to the innovator. The link to the profile contains comment boxes and approval buttons similar to the innovator approval method for new profiles. Standard language for these contacts is shown below.

Innovators are invited to submit new information for annual review, but they are not required to do so or respond to the request so the follow up efforts are less intensive than for a new profile. A typical contact pattern would be to make at least two contact attempts using two modes (i.e. e-mail and telephone) over the course of approximately two weeks. If the innovator does not respond after several attempts, then staff should attempt to verify and/or update the innovator contact information displayed in the profile. This verification may come through a reliable biographical website or document, or through an alternate contact at the innovator’s organization (e.g., an administrative assistant).

Below is a sample e-mail that can be used for the first contact attempt. The editorial teams may modify this message as needed. In your signature block, it is usually helpful to show your affiliation as AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange rather than as your employer as it minimizes confusion about who you are representing. It is also helpful to “request a read receipt” when sending the regular email. The points emphasized in the e-mail are also useful in phone calls.

Sample E-Mail

This email should include a link to the profile and should be sent initially to the innovator:

Dear Dr. X,  

 

I am contacting you on behalf of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Innovations Exchange to obtain an annual update to the profile of your work: INSERT LINK TO PROFILE 

Each year, we contact the individual listed as the innovator to:

1. Ensure that the contact information for the innovator and the content of the profile are still accurate, incorporate any updates you may have to the content of the profile, and add relevant awards/recognitions received from external organizations due the profiled innovation,

2. Collect graphics and images such as headshots, screenshots, pictures of facilities and equipment to enhance the profile’s content (please review the attached image criteria and submission form), and

3. Learn if you have been contacted as a result of your profile being posted on the Innovations Exchange.

Please use the hyperlink above to review your profile in our Authoring System. You can enter and submit comments after each section of the profile.  Then, be sure to select one of the buttons at the bottom (“Verify”, “Verify with Edits”, “Cannot Verify”) so that your review gets submitted. If you have no updates to provide, please just let me know and we’ll touch base with you again next year. 

 

Thank you for your continued support of the AHRQ Innovations Exchange,

Your Name

AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange

Criteria for Images to be Used on the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange

AHRQ is interested in adding multimedia content to the innovation profiles posted on the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange (www.innovations.ahrq.gov). Photographs, charts, graphics, and other types of images can make the profiles more engaging to readers and help them better understand the innovative activities and the context in which they take place.

Please note that AHRQ cannot endorse specific commercial products. Therefore, images that clearly emphasize a brand name, logo, etc. should be avoided.

Some examples of appropriate images that we may be able to use include:

1. Headshots of the innovator(s) or other individuals

2. Graphs and charts—Simple representations of information which demonstrates the impact of the innovation or provides data about the target population.

3. Tables—Basic data that can be easily displayed without the need to link to a larger version of the image.

4. Facilities and equipment—Photographs of facilities or equipment used in an innovation.

5. Screenshots—Computer screenshots that convey systems or process improvements. Screenshots should not contain personally identifiable information

There are no technical requirements for images but keep in mind the following guidelines which will ensure that images are of high quality:

• Please supply source images which are high quality, original file types (e.g., jpeg, gif, png, tif).

• Images that have been previously embedded in Word documents, PowerPoint presentations or posted online are not optimal.

• Small dimensions for source files are also not optimal (e.g., thumbnails approximately 100 pixels by 100 pixels).

• In general, the larger the dimensions of an image and the larger the file size the better.

• Source images should not be cropped in advance of submission. Innovations Exchange staff will format the images to ensure uniformity throughout the Web site.

• Vertical, horizontal and square image orientations are all acceptable.

• Images should not contain any watermarks. You may specify a credit line on the accompanying submission form to be displayed with the image.

Submission Form for Images to be Used on the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange

This form provides the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and its agent Westat, with nonexclusive, perpetual, royalty-free rights to use electronic images in the manner described below. Electronic images include, but are not limited to, photographs, charts, tables, and screenshots.

Uses of Images:

1. To crop, size, format, caption and otherwise optimize the image.

2. To post the image to the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange Web site (www.innovations.ahrq.gov) in all future editions and revisions thereof.

3. To use the image for AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange educational events, promotional materials, or other public displays in print or electronic media now known or hereafter discovered.

You represent and warrant that you are the owner of the image, or currently possess all rights necessary to grant the rights granted herein, including any necessary permissions from any recognizable individuals in the images. You represent and warrant that the images do not infringe any copyright, trademark or other proprietary right of any third party.

List of Images (Please list the images to which this permission applies, along with a brief description and the filename):

	Filename	Description
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

If you provide a credit line below, AHRQ and its agent Westat agree to display any such credit(s) with any images that are used.

Credits:

Credits acknowledge the ownership of an image. Examples of credit lines are shown below:

• A credit line for an image owned by an individual would read - Image courtesy of John Doe. Used with permission;

• A credit line for an image in the public domain would read – Image courtesy of National Institutes of Health;

• A credit line for copyrighted material would read - Copyright © 2000 by Jane Roe. Used with permission;

• A credit line for a facility would read - Photo Credit: William Groe, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If applicable, please specify the wording for the credit line for each image listed above. 

1. 

You understand that AHRQ may transfer the permission(s) granted in this agreement to other third-party agents engaged by AHRQ to administer the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange. Permission to use the images, described above, shall be effective as of the date signed below and shall remain in force unless terminated by either party.

Name (please print) Signature Date

________________________________ _____________________________ __________

Organization:____________________________________________________________

Address:________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Telephone: ____________________ Fax number: ____________________ Email: _________________

Please return the completed form with your signature using any of the methods below:

Email to: ______________________________________________________
Fax to: 301-294-2040, attention ____________________________
Mail to: _______________________________________________________

Profile ID Number:___________________________

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