A small federal agency responsible for studying how health care works for patients is largely dormant despite receiving millions of dollars from Congress for research into antibiotic resistance, health care access and safety or quality of care.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has spent none of the $345 million appropriated by Congress for the current fiscal year, and $80 million of its fiscal 2025 funding was sent back to the Treasury.
AHRQ hasn’t funded any new research projects in almost a year, and it hasn’t issued grant funding for existing projects since before the end of the previous fiscal year in September, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
