January 15, 2009
House Economic Stimulus Includes Funds for AHRQ, CER
On January 15, the House Appropriations Committee just released its much anticipated economic stimulus package: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The House proposal would provide over two years $1.1 billion to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for comparative effectiveness research (CER). Specifically, the proposal includes:
$300 million provided to AHRQ to support CER conducted through they agency’s Effective Health Care Program. Currently, $30 million of AHRQ’s total budget is provided to this program;
$400 million, which would be transferred from AHRQ to the National Institutes of Health to support its CER; and
$400 million, which would be transferred to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to, among other things, establish a Coordinating Council for CER to advise the Congress and president on CER priorities and infrastructure. Of this funding, the Secretary would have the authority to provide up to $1.5 million for the Institute of Medicine to conduct a study not later than June 2009 on “recommendations on the national priorities for CER to be conducted or supported with the funds provided,” which considers input from stakeholders.
The bill also includes $40 million for the National Center for Health Statistics under the "Prevention and Wellness Fund."
The stimulus package summary, bill text, and the report are now online:
Questions, please contact us at coalition@chsr.org.
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