Evaluation of AHRQ’s Children’s Health Activities

Since its inception, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ, or the
Agency) has funded research and other activities concerning a variety of children’s health issues.
At the same time, the Agency’s strategic priorities continue to evolvein the context of a
changing policy environment. Currently, the Agency is crafting strategic plans for its ten
“portfolios of work.” As part ofthe planning process, the Agencyis evaluating the various crosscutting, or cross-portfolio, prioritypopulations, including children. To aid in this assessment, the
RAND Corporation was contracted to evaluate AHRQ’s child health activities.
As requested by AHRQ, this evaluation addresses four Primary Objectives:
1) Measure and assess to what extent the Agency contributed and disseminated
and/or translated new knowledge;
2) Measure and assess to what extent AHRQ’s children’s healthcare activities
improved clinical practice and health care outcomes and influenced heath care
policies;
3) Measure and assess AHRQ’s financial and staff support for children’s health
activities; and,
4) Measure and assess to what extentthe Agency succeeded in involving
children’s health care stakeholders and/or creating partnerships to fund and
disseminate key child health activities