The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality which is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is looking for general dentists in New York, California, Louisiana and Tennessee to participate in focus group research. This is going to be related to the Medicaid electronic health record incentive program.

These focus groups are going to be held in group sessions between July and September 2011. This study will help inform about the various incentive program.  Both users and nonusers of EHR systems are needed.

The agency is offering each participant a $200 gift for participating in a 90- to 120-minute focus group session. The agency is seeking clinicians who work in outpatient settings such as private practices or federally qualified health centers, and whose patient population is 30 percent or more Medicaid.

Dentists who qualify will have to participate in a focus group which will be either in-person or via a conference call. Other health care professionals in the groups may include physicians, certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Responses will be kept confidential. This study is sponsored by AHRQ and is being conducted by RTI International, a leading nonprofit health care research organization.