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March 2, 2004
Dear Chairman Nickles and Senator Conrad: The Friends of AHRQ appreciate the Budget Committee’s past leadership in securing a strong federal commitment to health research, including that conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). In this difficult budget year, we need your leadership again to ensure that the Committee provides sufficient funding to support this critical agency. In his State of the Union address, President Bush stressed the importance of ensuring patient safety, reducing health care costs, and expanding access to health care. AHRQ research gives policymakers, purchasers, and providers the evidence-based information they need to address these issues and to use health care resources more efficiently. Congress and the administration have recently asked AHRQ to undertake new and important responsibilities. The Medicare Modernization Act includes a $53 million authorization for the agency to conduct comparative efficacy studies of health services and to convene the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group. However, the president’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2005 does not include additional funding for the agency to complete these tasks. Rather, it freezes AHRQ spending at FY 2004 levels. The administration would also like AHRQ to strengthen its current investments in patient safety and health information technology—again without providing a corresponding increase in funding. In order to ensure adequate funding for AHRQ’s important research, the Friends of AHRQ support a funding level of at least $443 million for the agency in FY 2005. We request that the Budget Committee increase the discretionary funding for public health through the Function 550 budget allocation by 12 percent in order to ensure adequate funding for AHRQ. We urge your support. Thank you again for your past leadership. Sincerely, Administrators of Internal Medicine |
