April 21, 2004

Dear Chairman Regula and Congressman Obey:

The Friends of AHRQ appreciate your leadership in providing funding increases over the President’s request for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Maintaining AHRQ’s funding is 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 FY2005 appropriations levels, we ask that you not only maintain, but enhance funding for 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 is the lead Public Health Service agency focused on these and related topics. AHRQ’s research provides the evidence-based information needed to reduce medical errors, improve access to health care services, and more efficiently utilize health care resources. Congress has supported the Agency’s work, providing funding increases while adding responsibilities. These resources have enabled AHRQ to enhance its research on how to:

• Reduce medical errors;
• Improve access and quality of care, particularly for persons with chronic disorders and for children;
• Translate research into practice;
• Begin addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health care;
• Improve the use of information technology by providers;
• Promote evidence-based health care;
• Assess and measure health care quality.

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. The President’s budget proposal also requires that AHRQ strengthen its current investments in patient safety and health information technology.

The Friends of AHRQ ask that you provide a funding level of at least $443 million for the agency. This includes the $53 million authorized in the Medicare Modernization Act and $86 million to ensure adequate funding for the following other high priority research needs:

• understanding the causes of and developing effective approaches for controlling rising health care costs;
• continuing to implement 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 funding increases made in biomedical and clinical research actually lead to improved services for the American people; and
• increasing our investment in evidence-based medicine.

We urge your support for providing these additional resources to AHRQ in FY2005 and thank you again for your past leadership and support.

Sincerely,

Administrators of Internal Medicine
Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine
Ambulatory Pediatrics Association
America's Health Insurance Plans
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Association for Clinical Chemistry
American Association for Dental Research
American Association of Colleges of Nursing
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
American College of Epidemiology
American College of Physicians
American College of Preventive Medicine
American College of Rheumatology
American Dental Association
American Geriatrics Society
American Heart Association
American Medical Association
American Osteopathic Association
American Pediatric Society
American Public Health Association
American Psychological Association
American Society of Nephrology
Americans for Better Care of the Dying
Arthritis Foundation
Association of American Medical Colleges
Association of Clinical Research Training Program Directors
Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs
Association of Professors of Medicine
Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine
Association of Subspecialty Professors
Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine
Coalition for American Trauma Care
Coalition for Health Funding
Coalition for Health Services Research
General Motors
Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System, Inc.
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
Medical Group Management Association
National Business Group on Health
National Health Council
National Marfan Foundation
National Mental Health Association
National Osteoporosis Foundation
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Psoriasis Foundation
Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation
Prevent Blindness America
Research!America
RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association
RTI International
Society for Adolescent Medicine
Society for Pediatric Research
Society of General Internal Medicine
Society of Thoracic Surgeons