The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is a United States government agency that functions as a part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support research to improve the quality of health care, reduce its cost, improve patient safety, decrease medical errors, and broaden access to essential services. AHRQ's mission is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used.