What is AHRQS Current Market Position?
Our results show that the AHRQ QIs are regarded as the leading product in the area of measuring the quality of hospital care from administrative data. In fact, the QIs are currently the only comprehensive measurement system in this area, as our survey did not identify any comparable offerings. The QIs have gained a leading role not just within the United States, but also increasingly in other countries. While a variety of vendors offer quality measurement systems that use administrative data, their products often embed the AHRQ QIs (either the actual software or the specifications). The fact that the QIs are a free resource certainly helped them to gain market share, but our interviewees were adamant that the excellent quality of the product combined with AHRQ’s reputation were the key prerequisites for the indicators’ success. Many interviewees commended AHRQ for the rigor and unbiased nature of its research and felt that AHRQ would remain the natural home for the development of stand
