President Donald Trump’s budget proposal includes rolling a relatively obscure agency that conducts health care research into the National Institutes of Health, and cutting the NIH budget by $5.8 billion.
That small agency – the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ (pronounced “arc“) – could be cut entirely or see its mission shrink drastically under the president’s plan. Reducing or eliminating AHRQ would have a significant effect on health system research and health IT adoption in communities across the country. Reporters have a number of ways to see how changes to AHRQ could affect health services in their region. Continue reading