More than $78 million that Congress provided for health care quality and patient safety research expired unspent at the end of fiscal 2025, and the Government Accountability Office says that was illegal. In a decision issued Oct. 7, GAO concluded that HHS violated the Impoundment Control Act by withholding funds from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
AHRQ is a small agency, but its work reaches ordinary hospital care. It funds research on preventing medication errors, infections, and diagnostic mistakes; runs the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which tracks what Americans spend on health care; and supports the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which issues recommendations on screenings and other preventive care.
