Abstract Academic detailing uses social marketing techniques to conduct outreach education with front-line clinicians and improve health care quality and patient outcomes. Many organizations, including AHRQ grantees, have recently implemented or are considering initiating programs of academic detailing. The National Resource Center for Academic Detailing (NaRCAD) provides assistance for these groups. In 2013 NaRCAD initiated an AHRQ-supported annual conference series to allow the sharing of knowledge and help guide and improve the field within the evolving health care landscape . We propose to improve and expand this conference series with annual meetings from 2016 through 2018 to focus on enhancing the impact of academic detailing on health care improvement initiatives. In hosting these conferences we will continue to provide a forum for the community of professionals working on academic detailing and clinical outreach education to the US health care community. The annual sessions showcase best practices in academic detailing and raise the visibility of the role of academic detailing in quality improvement. The conference series also sustain and expand NaRCAD's network of academic detailing programs, allowing for further The conferences feature a mix of formal plenary presentations from leaders in the field with discussion and breakout sessions that provide ample time for interaction; both session types will address the current state of knowledge, share best practices and identify emerging issues in the field. Organizations and individuals will be able to submit their work for presentation at the conference sessions. growth of this important approach. The conferences will be valuable for a wide variety of stakeholders who will participate, including public and private organizations using academic detailing, Medicaid agencies, policymakers, public health agencies, academics, insurers, non-profits interested in health care improvement and consumers. The conference proceedings will serve as educational materials for the greater academic detailing community in the US. Materials from the conference, as well as professionally prepared video presentations, will be freely available online in our Resource & Learning Center after the conference, serving as long-standing resources as well as promotional items. As the only established meeting of both national and international academic detailing organizations, our continued conference series helps strengthen academic detailing practice and improve healthcare quality. Ultimately, the sharing, deliberations and lessons from these meetings lead to practice changes for academic detailing worldwide and improve the readiness of the healthcare system to enact change.

Narrative “Academic detailing,” built on the techniques of social marketing, is a powerful and proven means of educational outreach to health care providers to change medical practice in order to make health care safer, more effective and of higher quality. This recurring conference series will foster ongoing communication, collaboration, and improvement among organizations and individuals running academic detailing programs in the United States and internationally. Conference attendees and speakers will share best practices and challenges in the field that will lead to the strengthening of academic detailing practice and opportunities for innovative new collaborations.