AHRQ creating how-to for patient registry

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A health agency said Friday it is devising a how-to guide to help health organizations track treatment outcomes.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality said its new guide would give tips on creating patient registries to track the outcomes of medical treatments, including drugs.

The guide will be key in helping Medicare make decisions about what treatments to cover, the agency said.

"Patient registries can play an important role as we build the foundation for evidence-based medical practice, and this guide will help ensure that registries produce useful results," said AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy.

"Registries can serve payers who need data for coverage decisions, and they can also serve more broadly to provide better information to support treatment decisions," she said.

Clancy said she hoped the guide would encourage broader use of patient registries, particularly so more can be learned about specific drugs' effectiveness.

AHRQ said the guide will be designed by both the government and the private sector and will include criteria for evaluating registries and the quality of their data, as well as advice on how registry data can be used to conduct scientific research.