Attachment C - Key Informant Interview Information Sheet

ATTACHMENT C

Evaluation of AHRQ’s PCOR CDS Initiative

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

In 2016 AHRQ launched the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Initiative (the Initiative) in an effort to accelerate the movement of evidence into practice through CDS, and to make CDS more shareable, standards-based, and publicly-available. The Initiative has main four components:

1. The Patient-Centered (PC) CDS Learning Network (LN): AHRQ awarded RTI International a cooperative agreement to become the Patient-Centered Clinical Decision Support Learning Network (PCCDS-LN). The PCCDS-LN is building a community of researchers, clinicians, professional societies, and others that is exploring and advancing patient-centered CDS.

2. CDS Connect: AHRQ awarded the MITRE Corporation a contract to develop "CDS Connect," an online web presence that will function as a repository of CDS artifacts and create prototype infrastructure for sharing CDS across different health care settings and technologies. MITRE will also develop, pilot, and share CDS artifacts on CDS Connect as a proof-of-concept.

3. CDS Demonstrations: Through a contract with the MedStar Research Institute, AHRQ has sponsored research on how CDS Connect can help disseminate and implement evidence in clinical practice. It also supports the development of new patient-centered CDS through contracts and cooperative agreements.

4. Evaluation: AHRQ contracted NORC at the University of Chicago to conduct a three-year mixed-methods evaluation to assess the current impact and inform the future direction of the Initiative.

For more information about AHRQ's CDS initiative, please visit https://cds.ahrq.gov.

WHAT IS NORC?

NORC at the University of Chicago is an objective non-partisan research institution that delivers reliable data and rigorous analysis to guide critical programmatic, business, and policy decisions. Our project team offers expertise in large scale evaluations of federal health informatics initiatives using mixed-methods approaches, and a track record of responsible federal project stewardship.

WHAT DOES THE EVALUATION INVOLVE?

As the evaluator of the Initiative, NORC is responsible for assessing the initiative’s current state, characterizing its impact, identifying gaps, and specifying future opportunities. NORC will conduct a rigorous mixed-methods analysis using document review, key informant interviews, a survey, and site visits.

WHO IS ON THE NORC TEAM?

NORC’s multi-disciplinary is led by Prashila Dullabh, MD and the mixed-methods evaluation is led by Maysoun Freij, PhD, and Rina Dhopeshwarkar, MPH. In addition the NORC team has engaged Dean Sittig as a Subject Matter Expert and Aziz Boxwala, of Elimu Informatics, as a Senior Advisor.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERVIEWS

Key informant interviews will provide an opportunity to learn more about stakeholder involvement in the Initiative and/or its components, including their reasons for joining and perspectives on its successes, challenges, and recommendations for the future. We will explore roles and contributions to the Initiative, as well as observed or potential impacts of the Initiative and its products on the development and use of patient-centered, shareable, standards-based, CDS. Each interview will last approximately one hour. Your consent to participate will be requested verbally at the start of the interview.

In addition to the NORC team members facilitating the discussion, a NORC staff member will take notes during the interview. With your permission, we will record the discussion to help develop transcripts of the interview, and to make sure comments are captured accurately. Only NORC staff assigned to this study listen to the recordings as they will help us write a report about the key findings from these discussions. NORC will keep these recordings and any associated data private to the extent permitted by law (as described in the Privacy Act of 1974).

CONFIDENTIALLITY

AHRQ staff are involved in developing the sample for this study, and will know the names of people who participate. While AHRQ will be aware of individuals who participate in the interviews only the NORC evaluation team will have access to notes, recordings, and/or summaries from individual interviews. We will keep your name and the name of your organization confidential, and will not refer to you by name in any public facing report. Rather, we will refer to interviewees by role in the initiative (e.g. leader, contributor, and participant) and the component they were engaged with, and we may refer to organizations by name.

PARTICIPANT RIGHTS

Your decision to participate in the evaluation is voluntary. You can stop at any time. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to answer. If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a participant, please contact the NORC IRB Manager toll-free at (866) 309-0542 or by e-mail irb@norc.org.

TO REACH THE NORC TEAM

For questions or comments about the evaluation of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Clinical Decision Support Initiative, please contact:

Prashila Dullabh, Project Director

Dullabh-Prashila@norc.org

(301) 634-9418

Krysta Heaney-Huls, Project Manager

Heaney-Huls-Krysta@norc.org

(312) 325-2510

Maysoun Freij, Co-Evaluation Lead

Freij-Maysoun@norc.org  

(301) 634-9539

Rina Dhopeshwarkar, Co-Evaluation Lead

Dhopeshwarkar-Rina@norc.org

(202) 596-8144

3