AAMC March 10 joined over 170 other organizations on a letter urging House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommitteeleadership to reverse the cut sustained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 (P.L. 114-113) and restore the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) budget authority to $364 million.
The President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 budget proposes $364 million for AHRQ, which is a $29.7 million (8.8 percent) increase over FY 2016.
The community letter, organized by the Friends of AHRQ, calls on committee leaders to “preserve the agency’s unique role in generating evidence on the quality of health care and ensuring the evidence is used in practice.” The letter adds that AHRQ-supported research “generates valuable evidence to help providers help patients make the right health care decisions for themselves and their loved ones.”