Invited Guests include:   AHRQ grantees and contractors, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, technicians, health care researchers, quality improvement and risk assessment managers, health care institution leaders…and others interested in and committed to improving the safety and quality of the health care system.

Projects supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) have become a vital part of the nation's efforts to improve the safety and quality of health care. AHRQ's broad Patient Safety Portfolio is helping to bridge the gap between research and practice by providing practical applications and solutions that are used every day in the American health care system.

A cornerstone of improving health care quality is the advancement of health information technology (IT). AHRQ's new Health IT Portfolio, supported by the recently created AHRQ National Resource Center for Health Information Technology, encompasses a diverse set of activities in an area that is receiving heightened national attention and support. The projects completed under this initiative will make important contributions to transforming clinical practice and improving health care quality.

The 2005 Patient Safety and Health Information Technology Conference will offer AHRQ grantees and other stakeholders the opportunity to present findings from their projects. The conference will facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing across AHRQ's Patient Safety grantees, Health IT grantees, and state and regional Health IT demonstration projects. Special emphasis will be placed on elaborating and discussing best practices, lessons learned, and strategies for meeting common challenges.

The weeklong conference will also offer the opportunity to hear from providers, researchers, and practitioners about their work in Patient Safety and Health IT, including a day devoted to presentations from innovative leaders who understand the importance of Health IT as a critical element of improving the safety and quality of the health care system. AHRQ will host an Innovations Café that will highlight new findings, products, tools, best practices, and implementation methods to improve health care safety and quality, with particular emphasis on bridging the gap between research and practice through the use of health information technology. The conference will also provide a special session for AHRQ grantees to learn details about the support available to them through the AHRQ National Resource Center. AHRQ invites its grantees, colleagues, stakeholders, and all those interested in improving patient safety and quality of care to attend.