HCUP Award for Outstanding Research

The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Award for Outstanding Research (previously called the Outstanding Article of the Year Award) is a biennial event sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and AcademyHealth. The award recognizes outstanding research published in peer-reviewed journals that used HCUP databases. Winning authors and their research will be announced at the 2025 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM). Work honored demonstrates how HCUP has contributed to addressing healthcare research topics and issues.

The call for nominations for articles published from July 1, 2022, - June, 30, 2024 will be open from November 11, 2024 to January 7, 2025. Winners will be notified via email by April 14, 2025 and publicly recognized during the 2025 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM) which will be held June 7-10, 2025.

Since the inception of this award in 2010, AHRQ has recognized exceptional research conducted using the HCUP databases in the clinical and health policy arenas. This research continues to enhance the public conversation about healthcare costs, outcomes, and trends. Over the years, the award has grown into a distinguished honor among health services researchers with a variety of clinical insights, economic interests, and policy backgrounds. AHRQ is proud of the important work being done with HCUP data and is excited to see what researchers nominate for award consideration. For questions, please contact HCUP_Publications@ahrq.hhs.gov.

Contents:

Article Criteria
How to Apply
Selection of Winners
Recognition
Archive of Award Recipients

Article Criteria

All nominations must have used an HCUP database and been published in a peer-reviewed journal during the award-specified timeframe and demonstrate that the work excels in these core criteria:

Originality of the use of HCUP data
Quality and suitability of methods and research design for HCUP data
Policy or clinical relevance
Significance, implication, and translation of research

Articles may be on any subject that can be investigated using HCUP data. Topic examples include:

Clinical innovations and/or medical practice enhancements
Advancements in the understanding of a condition or procedure
New or alternative research design approaches in viewing outcomes
Contributions to understanding the health services field through data linkages or enhancements
Characteristics of a healthcare market or the U.S. healthcare system
Identification of healthcare practices (or changes in practices and behavior) within or across a population
Impact of changes in healthcare behavior or policy
Improvements on the understanding of healthcare policy initiatives
Demonstrations of how research can be translated in to policy practice

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How to Apply

Researchers may self-nominate or be nominated by another individual (e.g., a colleague of the author or authors). One nomination per author/individual/research group will be accepted. For those nominating an individual, please notify the author.

During nomination periods, a Nomination Form will be available here.

Submissions should be sent to HCUP_Publications@ahrq.hhs.gov.

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HCUP Award for Outstanding Research