February 17, 2009
Economic Recovery Package Signed Into Law
Congress has passed and the president has signed an economic recovery package that contains significant funding for our field. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides over two years $1.1 billion to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for comparative effectiveness research (CER). Specifically, the stimulus package 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.
The House and Senate bills originally included $40 million for the National Center for Health Statistics to modernize the vital statistics system within the broader "Prevention and Wellness Fund," However, funding for NCHS was not included in the final measure due to a bi-partisan compromise to decrease the package's overall cost.
With work on the economic recovery package complete, Congress turns its attention to the remaining FY 2009 appropriations bills. Although numbers have not been released, AHRQ and NCHS will likely receive increases in their agency budgets. These agencies are currently operating under a continuing resolution that provides flat funding at FY 2008 levels and expires March 6.
The final stimulus package report language is now online:
|
|
