Dive Brief:
- The House Appropriations Committee is looking to cease funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which operates under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support research that forwards healthcare safety, quality, accessibility, equitability and affordability.
- The committee's draft funding bill for FY16 Labor, Health and Human Services leaves out the AHRQ, which would effectively "terminate" the agency if the bill is passed.
- The bill would also slash funding for two other agencies designed to drive innovation in healthcare quality.
Dive Insight:
The proposed cuts are intentionally at odds with the ACA.
The additional two agencies being targeted are the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which would see a cutback of $6.8 billion; and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, which would see a cutback of $100 million, Healthcare IT News reports.
Those groups were developed as part of the ACA, but sponsors of the new funding bill say it will "roll back harmful Obamacare provisions (and) cut wasteful spending."