Dive Brief:
- Dr. Richard Kronick, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is set to resign effective March 18, Modern Healthcare reports.
- Kronick took the position at AHRQ, a division of HHS, in August 2013 as the successor to Dr. Carolyn Clancy. HHS Secretary Burwell has asked AHRQ Deputy Director Dr. Sharon Arnold to serve as Acting Director following Kronick's departure.
- Kronick plans to return to the University of California in San Diego, where he previously served as chief of the division of healthcare sciences at the family and preventive medicine department.
Dive Insight:
Kronick reflects on his tenure at AHRQ as most notable for its focus on hospital safety, its EvidenceNow grant initiative, and grants on comparative health systems performance. He also noted AHRQ's contributions to HHS efforts, including delivery system reform, and the battles against antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the opioid epidemic.
Aside from AHRQ's work, however, Kronick is known for having led the agency through the period in which GOP lawmakers sought to eliminate it to cut costs.
He suggests generating support will be a continuing challenge for future AHRQ directors.
“We've done a good job," Kronick told Modern Healthcare, "But as a relatively small agency in a very crowded space, it has been difficult to get the message out about the impact of the work that we do.”