A new non-profit association, the Alliance for the Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines (AiCPG), announced the launch of a new guideline clearinghouse that fills the gap left by the defunded Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC).
AiCPG’s new clearinghouse provides free access to thousands of summarized full-text clinical practice guidelines. The clearinghouse currently includes over 1,000 archived summaries previously published in the NGC, and will include hundreds of new guideline summaries in the coming months. Registration is not be required in order to access the guideline summaries.
The AiCPG is an alliance of ‘Allied Organizations’ comprised of non-profit associations that develop clinical practice guidelines. These associations select representatives to serve on AiCPG’s governing body, the Alliance Oversight Committee, which sets all of the standards for how the clearinghouse operates. There are no membership categories or membership fees to be an Allied Organization. Any non-profit association can submit guidelines to the clearinghouse.
“This initiative was developed with numerous organizations that have decades of experience in developing guidelines. AiCPG is taking the best parts of what the NGC achieved and developing this resource into something entirely new,” said Joel Harder, Executive Director of AiCPG.
While the new guideline clearinghouse will initially be available online, AiCPG plans to launch a mobile app for iOS and Android that will bring the content offline. Weekly guideline alert emails will be available for those who want to stay informed when a new guideline is published in a specific specialty area or from an organization they follow.
“AiCPG’s top priority is to assist providers with the implementation of guideline recommendations; therefore, we won’t create a proprietary scoring system for guidelines. We will instead allow users to search and filter guidelines that meet certain objective criteria,” said James E. Tcheng, MD, FACC, FSCAI, Board Chairman of AiCPG. “Our resources are directed to reduce the number of clicks needed to find the right information at the right time – advanced search, layered presentations and a more machine-computable format for eventual EHR integration.”
“While other organizations have announced intentions to build a repository for guidelines, the AiCPG has a number of key differentiators,” said Lisa M. Masson, MD, FAAFP, Board Secretary of AiCPG. “For example, we’ve engineered a feedback loop to allow users to communicate with guideline authors on topics such as the implement-ability of the recommendations. The goal is to provide an open channel of communication that will help developers prioritize their limited resources, and eventually lead to more actionable recommendations. Between this and our governance model, we wanted to allow key stakeholders to shape the present and future of this clearinghouse – not only the guideline developing organizations, but the end-users as well. A resource this important should involve the entire community.”
Individuals who would like to receive updates and organizations who are interested in learning more about submitting guidelines to the new clearinghouse can do so by visiting the AiCPG website.
About the Alliance for the Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines (AiCPG)
The AiCPG, or the Alliance, is a non-profit organization with a mission to systematically promote the availability, dissemination and implementation of clinical practice guidelines to help healthcare professionals and improve patient outcomes.
To learn more, visit AiCPG’s website click here.
