As released today, the President’s budget request proposes significant and, we believe, unacceptable changes to the nation’s scientific enterprise.
AcademyHealth has serious concerns about the reorganization and reductions outlined in the request, including proposals to cut spending for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) by 21 percent, reduce spending at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by $878 million, and consolidate AHRQ, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation (NIDILR) into the National Institutes of Health and three separate Institutes.
The research, resources, tools, and datasets produced by these and other federal health and health research agencies targeted in the budget provide a critical public service, improving the safety and quality of health care Americans receive and helping us better understand how to make our health care system more effective and efficient.
As the professional society for health services and policy research, AcademyHealth is committed to ensuring that federal funding for health services research – the research that determines how to deliver care and cures most effectively, with the highest level of quality, and in the most efficient way – is supported and sustained. This important work deserves a dedicated entity whose focus is solely on health services research, and we need an accountable authority to ensure this unique research continues.
Evidence matters, and health services research provides the best possible insights into solving the complex problems facing our $3.2 trillion health care industry. AcademyHealth stands ready, as always, to champion health services research and make clear the risks of underinvestment.