Status of Pending Guidelines Under AHCPR's Revamped Guideline Program

Media Advisory Date: October 3, 1996

As a result of a major restructuring of its clinical practice guideline program, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) has made the following decisions about the three guidelines under development when the change was announced in late April:

• The guideline on screening for Alzheimer's disease, which was virtually completed at the time of the restructuring, was completed and released on September 26, 1996.
• The other two guidelines under development at the time of the restructuring—chronic headache pain and colorectal cancer screening—were at a less advanced stage, and therefore will be converted into AHCPR's first evidence reports.

The evidence reports will include literature reviews, evidence tables, decision analyses, meta-analyses, and other products. Under AHCPR's new program, subsequent evidence reports will be developed by AHCPR-sponsored Evidence-based Practice Centers. Like the reports for headache pain and colorectal cancer screening, all AHCPR-sponsored evidence reports will be available for use by public- and private-sector organizations (provider societies, health plans, purchasing groups, States, and others) to develop and implement their own clinical practice guidelines and other quality improvement measures and activities.

The guideline program was revamped in response to the need of public- and private-sector organizations for strong scientific foundations for use in developing their own high-quality, evidence-based guidelines and other quality improvement tools.

For additional information on AHCPR's restructuring of its guideline program, see the statement of May 2, 1996.