The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is partnering with Google to offer a new online tool to help patients plan for medical visits, according to an AHRQ press release.
The new Google visit planning tool builds on AHRQ's QuestionBuilder app and makes it easier for patients and health professionals to privately list and prioritize their questions in preparation for their medical visits. People who use the tool will also have the option to create their own private visit plan when searching for a health care provider.
Launched in 2007 through a series of public service announcements with the Ad Council, AHRQ's “Questions Are the Answer” public education initiative highlighted the vital role patients and families play as part of their healthcare team and encourages patients to ask the right questions and making sure they understand the answers in regards to their personal health care.
The initiative draws on knowledge from dozens of patient safety research projects conducted by AHRQ in the early 2000s following its landmark study "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System."
In 1999, Congress renamed the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, adding the 'Q' to emphasize its dedication to health care quality. Ensuring that health care helps patients get better and not sicker became AHRQ’s primary focus and established AHRQ as the federal government’s hub for patient safety research.
The agency continues to help provide answers on the complexities of diagnostic testing and results, medication safety, safe transitions between care settings and advocates for the importance of patient and family engagement.
In 2019, AHRQ launched the QuestionBuilder app which draws upon the department’s longstanding research and now serves as the model for Google's new development efforts. That research will now have the power to help even more people get the most out of their medical visits.
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