About Us

In June 2002, the University of Ottawa was approved as an Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for a 5-year term. In September 2007, AHRQ renewed the University of Ottawa's Evidence-based Practice Centre (UO-EPC) for a second 5-year term. There are fourteen EPCs across North America. Located in Canada's national capital, the UO-EPC is coordinated by the Chalmers Research Group (CRG) located at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute (CHEO RI).

Capacity

The UO-EPC has established a network of several partner sites and well over 100 Ottawa-based investigators from various disciplines to further strengthen the multidisciplinary collaborative approach intrinsic to all EPCs. The UO-EPC is staffed by a core of on site methodologists, epidemiologists, physicians, and allied health clinicians. The UO-EPC also has access to information specialists, biostatisticians, and information technology scientists. As an organization, we have evolved into a dynamic, academic environment with an informed perspective on evidence-based medicine.

UO-EPC Mandate

The UO-EPC is mandated to provide the framework and expertise required to develop superior evidence reports and technology assessments based on comprehensive and systematic reviews of the scientific literature on health care. With the technical support of the UO-EPC, these products can then be translated into practical tools to influence both health care practice and policy.

AHRQ EPC Program

The research sponsored, conducted, and disseminated by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) provides information that helps people make better decisions about health care. Therefore, the EPC program supports research designed to improve the outcomes and quality of health care, reduce its costs, address patient safety and medical errors, and broaden access to effective services. All Evidence-based Practice Centers perform methodologically rigorous systematic reviews and analyses of scientific literature on clinical, behavioural, organizational, and financing systems topics. The resulting evidence reports and technology assessments will be used by United States Federal and State Agencies, private sector professional societies, health delivery systems, providers, payers, and others committed to evidence-based health care. In addition, the EPCs will update prior evidence reports; provide technical assistance to professional organizations, employers, providers, policymakers, etc. to facilitate translation of the reports into quality improvement tools, evidence-based curricula, reimbursement policies, and undertake methods research.