The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the federal agency responsible for improving the quality, safety, and effectiveness of US health care, is reportedly “on the brink,” health policy experts warn. The Trump administration has eliminated roughly 75 percent of the agency’s workforce, canceled research funding, and left tens of millions of dollars approved by Congress unspent.
Health policy experts Aaron Carroll and David Atkins warn that AHRQ’s “survival after the second Trump administration is an open question” in an opinion article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Established in the 1990s, AHRQ researches ways to improve patient safety, health care quality, care delivery, medical technology, and clinical practices. Carroll and Atkins note that Republican leaders once viewed health disparities as a major health care quality problem. In recent years, however, disparities in medical care have increasingly become a partisan political issue.
During President Trump’s second term, an estimated 75 percent of AHRQ employees were laid off or retired as part of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts. In July, the agency abruptly sent grant-revocation notices to approximately 150 researchers. More than 100 health care research grants, with a combined value exceeding $250 million, have been canceled.
Congress allocated $345 million to AHRQ for fiscal year 2026, but much of that funding remains unused. Only about $15 million has so far been committed to grants. Researchers in more than 30 states have consequently paused studies, furloughed employees, suspended programs, and abandoned plans to investigate new areas of health care improvement.
Experts express “deep concern” over AHRQ’s future
Carroll and Atkins warn that the consequences extend beyond lost data, canceled studies, and fewer research findings. The cuts are also weakening the broader community of health services researchers. “This is what happens when we stop training the next generation of health services researchers,” they write.
The experts are urging Congress to protect AHRQ and restore its research capacity before the damage becomes irreversible. Although rebuilding the agency will be difficult, they argue that congressional action could still preserve critical health care research, patient safety initiatives, and efforts to reduce disparities in medical care.
Source: arstechnica.com