Attachment C -- Invitation Letter

Attachment C: Invitation Letter

[DATE]

[ADDRESSEE

CONTACT INFORMATION]

Dear [ADDRESSEE]:

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) invites you to participate in an interview for a project titled Understanding Development Methods from Other Industries to Improve the Design of Consumer Health IT.

AHRQ has contracted with Westat, a research company in Rockville Maryland, and staff from the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the University of Maryland’s Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) to examine product development approaches, methods, and philosophies from a variety of industries that might extend to the design of information technology (IT) applications in the area of consumer health.

The project team has identified you as an expert in the design, management, and/or marketing of consumer products that are relevant to consumer health IT products. The interview will focus on identifying your design principles and methods that led to the success of your consumer product(s), so that these processes can be evaluated for extension to the design and development of consumer health IT.

We hope very much that you will be able to participate in an individual interview to be scheduled at your convenience. Staff from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering will contact you shortly to ask for your interest and availability. The interviews will take place between October 12 and November 15, 2011, and will take up to 90 minutes.

The interview findings will lead to a report of recommendations targeted to vendors and developers of consumer health IT products. These recommendations will help to improve the design and development of consumer health IT products and subsequently impact the adoption and use of health IT products across the U.S. population.

Sincerely,

Jon White, MD Teresa Zayas Cabán, Ph.D.

Health IT Director Senior Manager, Health IT

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality