April 15, 2003

Dear Chairman Specter and Senator Harkin:

The Friends of AHRQ appreciate your leadership in providing funding increases for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Maintaining AHRQ's funding was critical in continuing research needed to improve health care quality, access, and financing in the United States. We ask for your help again this year. As you develop your FY2004 budget, we ask that you not only maintain, but enhance funding for this critical agency. The Friends of AHRQ recommends $390 million.

As the lead Public Health Service agency focused on health care quality, AHRQ's research provides the evidence-based information needed to reduce medical errors, improve access to health care services, translate research into practice, provides a database to improve reporting on quality and disparity, and more efficiently utilize health care resources. The funding Congress has provided in the past has enabled AHRQ to research important questions about how to:

• Reduce deaths from medical errors;
  
• Improve access and quality of care, particularly for persons with chronic disorders and for children;
  
• Translate research into practice;
  
• Improve the use of information technology by providers;
  
• Promote evidence-based health care;
  
• Assess and measure health care quality;
  
• Assist in improving emergency responsiveness.

The President's FY2004 proposed budget would decrease current funding for AHRQ by $27 million. If this budget request of $279 million were enacted, a reduction of funding of over 8 percent would result. Under this scenario, AHRQ would be unable to award any new non-patient safety grants in FY2004 and existing non-patient safety grants would have to be cut by 15 percent.

The Friends of AHRQ recommends a funding level of $390 million to ensure adequate funding for high priority research needs including:

• understanding the causes of and developing effective approaches for controlling rising health care costs;
  
• beginning implementation of the Institute of Medicine's report: Crossing the Quality Chasm;
  
• strengthening efforts to translate research into practice, which becomes even more critical as we work to assure that the significant increases in biomedical and clinical research result in improved services for the American people; and
  
• increasing appropriate access to medical technology.

We urge your support for providing these additional resources to AHRQ in FY2004 and thank you again for your past leadership and support.

Sincerely,

Alliance for Aging Research
Ambulatory Pediatric Association
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Association of Colleges of Nursing
American Association for Dental Research
American Association of Clinical Chemistry
American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
American College of Physicians
American College of Preventive Medicine
American Dental Education Association
American Federation for Medical Research
American Geriatrics Society
American Heart Association
American Nurses Association
American Osteopathic Association
American Pediatric Society
American Physical Therapy Association
American Public Health Association
American Psychological Association
American Society of Nephrology
Americans for Better Care of the Dying
Association of American Medical Colleges
Association of Departments of Family Medicine
Association of Family Practice Residency Directors
Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs
Association of Schools of Public Health
Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
Coalition for American Trauma Care.
Coalition for Health Funding
Coalition for Health Services Research
The Consortium of Social Science Associations
General Motors
Health Insurance Association of America
Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research
Medical Group Management Association
Mount Sinai Medical Center
National Committee for Quality Assurance
National Health Council
National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation
North American Primary Care Research Group
Research!America
Society for Pediatric Research
Society for Women's Health Research
Society of General Internal Medicine and American College of Rheumatology
Society. of Teachers of Family Medicine
Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Washington Business Group on Health