The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the Department of Health and Human Services has renewed its contract with ECRI Institute to operate, maintain, and enhance the AHRQ National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) and National Quality Measures Clearinghouse (NQMC). ECRI developed and has maintained NGC since its inception in 1997, and NQMC since its beginnings in 2001.

The two websites provide publicly accessible, searchable databases of summaries of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and healthcare quality measures, measure sets, and related information. The information is presented in a standardized format that facilitates quick retrieval and comparison among guidelines and quality measures on similar topics.

According to ECRI, its plans for enhancements include implementing more rigorous inclusion criteria for both NGC and NQMC and acting on the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation to indicate the extent to which NGC guidelines conform to the standards for developing trustworthy guidelines.