AHRQ Centers of Excellence

The Center for Advancing Equity in Clinical Preventive Services at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, is one of three Centers for Excellence in Clinical Preventive Services created by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). These centers work to optimize the use of clinical preventive services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Our Center focuses on strategies to reduce disparities. The University of North Carolina (UNC) Research Center for Excellence in Clinical Preventive Services focuses on improving the safety and appropriate use of clinical preventive services. The Center for Excellence in Research in Implementation Science and Prevention (CRISP) at the University of Colorado, Anshutz Medical Campus conducts research on how to increase use of preventive health services within primary care settings.

Our Mission

We work to expand and accelerate the development, testing, and dissemination of innovative, practical, effective, generalizable interventions to increase equity of access to and use of clinical preventive services.

In short, we aim to build towards a reality where Prevention for All is possible.

Equity Targets

All of our projects must identify a defined “equity target”: a difference in morbidity or mortality by age, gender, race/ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status, sexual identity or orientation, or location of residence that we strive to eliminate. We are currently working on three major research studies with the following equity targets:

• Improve equity in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates and to decrease disparities in colorectal cancer mortality.
• To reduce disparities by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in the appropriate use of cholesterol-lowering medication (statins) for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, and to decrease disparities in mortality due to cardiovascular disease.
• Improve equity in receipt of pneumococcal vaccination (PnVx) among African Americans and decrease disparities in pneumonia morbidity and mortality.

In addition, pilot projects are underway to address disparities in diabetes prevention among women who have had gestational diabetes and to improve access to smoking cessation programs among individuals with low income and limited access to health care.