Van Hollen Presses Administration on Decision to End Support for Publicly Accessible Patient Care Guidelines
U.S.
Senator Chris Van Hollen has sent a letter to the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ) Director Gopal Khanna, regarding the Agency’s
decision to end support for the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC). The NGC
provides public access to evidence-based clinical practices that promote
patient care.
In
the letter, Senator Van Hollen noted, “The NGC is an important tool for
providers, patients, and others to inform health care and treatment decisions.”
The
Senator continued,
“According to the AHRQ’s own data, the NGC’s website averages 300,000 sessions
from 200,000 visitors each month, clearly demonstrating the value that
clinicians, researchers, payers, and others see in this resource.”
Given
this abrupt decision, the Senator requested that AHRQ provide information
surrounding decision, including the status of the NGC’s contract, who was
involved in the decision, and whether an archived version of the website will
continue to be maintained.
The
full text of the letter is available here
and below.
Dear
Mr. Khanna:
We
write today to inquire about your agency’s decision to end support for the
National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) effective July 16, 2018 and ask for an
update about the transition of the NGC to the ECRI Institute. The NGC is a
valuable resource, and we want to ensure it remains accessible.
As
you know, the NGC provides single-source, public access to evidence-based
clinical practice guidelines through www.guideline.gov. Clinical practice
guidelines promote patient care that is informed by rigorous review of relevant
medical evidence, as well as meet defined criteria for inclusion. The NGC is an
important tool for providers, patients, and others to inform health care and
treatment decisions. The NGC website also contains syntheses of guidelines,
expert commentaries, links to guideline resources, and NGC-specific technical
assistance videos.
According
to the AHRQ’s own data, the NGC’s website averages 300,000 sessions from
200,000 visitors each month, clearly demonstrating the value that clinicians,
researchers, payers, and others see in this resource. As such, we request a
response to the following questions about AHRQ’s decision to no longer support
the NGC.
·
Who
was involved in the decision to end AHRQ support of the NGC? Additionally,
please describe the decision-making process.
·
How
long was AHRQ’s initial contract with ECRI to maintain the NGC? When did the
contract end?
·
When
does AHRQ’s funding for NGC expire? How will any remaining funding be
reallocated?
·
Will
AHRQ maintain an archived version of www.guidelines.gov?
·
How
much did AHRQ spend annually operating the NGC? How much would it cost AHRQ to
maintain the website as an archive?
·
Should
AHRQ decide to begin supporting the NGC again, how long would it take the
Agency to resume control of www.guidelines.gov?
·
It
has been reported[1] that ECRI will run the
NGC privately. Given that the NGC will be housed outside of the federal government,
it is imperative that it remains a science-driven resource free of bias or
undue influence. Please explain the role of AHRQ now that the NGC is being
maintained by another entity.
Thank
you in advance for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your
response.