October 19, 2001

AHRQ Awards $50 Million for Patient Safety

HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced Oct. 11 the release of $50 million to fund 94 new research grants, contracts and other projects to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

The initiative represents the federal government's largest single investment to address the estimated 44,000 to 98,000 patient deaths related to medical errors each year. The results of this research will identify improvement strategies that work in hospitals, doctors' offices, nursing homes, and other health care settings across the country.