FY 18 Spending Bill Halts AHRQ Downward Trend

The recently passed omnibus spending bill provided a boost to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), halting a nearly decade-long trend of cuts. As shown in the AHRQ 2009-2017 Appropriation History Table , the agency committed to “making health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable” had received a steady flow of  budget cuts dating back to 2009. While the Trump Administration had hoped to fold the agency into the National Institutes of Health in its FY 18 request (and continues to push for this in its FY 19 request), Congress is resisting and has appropriated $334 million for AHRQ in FY 18 – a $10 million (3.1 percent) increase over AHRQ’s FY 17 funding level.