The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Budget: Fact Sheet




The Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality (AHRQ) Budget: Fact Sheet

Updated August 29, 2023
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R44136


The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Budget: Fact Sheet

he Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), within the Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS), is the federal agency charged with supporting research
T designed to improve the quality of health care, increase the efficiency of its delivery, and
broaden access to health services. In addition, AHRQ is required to disseminate its research
findings to health care providers, payers, and consumers, among others. The agency collects data
on health care expenditures and utilization through the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey
(MEPS) and the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP).1 Authorized appropriations for
AHRQ expired in 2005; however, it has continued to receive annual funding since that time.
The AHRQ budget has traditionally been organized into the program areas of Health Costs,
Quality, and Outcomes (HCQO) Research; MEPS; and Program Support. As of FY2024, HCQO
focuses on four priority areas, including (1) Digital Healthcare Research; (2) Patient Safety; (3)
Health Services Research, Data and Dissemination; and (4) U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
(USPSTF).2
AHRQ’s funding level had been increasing steadily over the period FY2011-FY2015, with
decreases in discretionary funding being more than offset by transfers of mandatory funds
pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA, P.L. 111-148, as
amended). However, in FY2016, the total funding level for the agency decreased from its prior-
year level for the first time since FY2011. ACA mandatory funds have been a prominent and
increasing source of funding for the agency since FY2010, although discretionary funding
continues to be the major source of support for the agency by a significant margin. Authorized
appropriations for AHRQ expired in FY2005; however, the agency has continued to receive
annual funding through annual appropriations acts.
Funding Sources
AHRQ’s budget currently comprises both discretionary and mandatory funds, although that has
not always been the case. Between FY2003 and FY2008, agency funding came mostly if not
entirely from transfers of discretionary funds from the Public Health Service (PHS) evaluation
set-aside.3 From FY2010 to FY2016 agency funding included mandatory funds, as the agency
began receiving transfers from specified ACA trust funds. Also, in FY2015 discretionary funding
for the agency shifted from PHS evaluation set-aside funds to the agency’s own discretionary
appropriation, and this has continued for all fiscal years since.
Discretionary Funding Sources
Between FY2003 and FY2014, AHRQ did not receive its own annual discretionary
appropriations.4 Instead, the majority of AHRQ’s funding during this timeframe consisted of
transfers of discretionary funds from the PHS evaluation set-aside. This set-aside (sometimes

1 For more information about AHRQ in general, see http://www.ahrq.gov.
2 For several years, HCQO included a patient-centered health research (comparative effectiveness research) area, but
this area was first removed in the FY2016 congressional budget justification and the FY2016 President’s budget
request, and continued to be excluded in all budget documents since (and including) FY2017. In addition, HCQO had
previously included a “value” category, but that area was removed in the FY2017 President’s budget request and in the
FY2017 congressional budget justification.
3 For more information about the PHS Evaluation Set-Aside, see CRS Report R47345, Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Education: FY2023 Appropriations
.
4 Although AHRQ did not receive a discretionary appropriation in the FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-
8), the agency did receive $700 million in a one-time supplemental discretionary appropriation from the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5).
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called the PHS evaluation “tap”) is authorized in Section 241 of the Public Health Service Act
(PHSA) and allows the HHS Secretary, with the approval of congressional appropriators, to
redistribute a portion of eligible PHS agency appropriations across the department to evaluate the
implementation and effectiveness of HHS programs.5 While the PHS evaluation set-aside
historically was generally the primary source of AHRQ funding for many years, this was not the
case beginning in FY2015, when the agency received its own annual discretionary appropriation
for the first time in over a decade, and did not receive any transfer from the PHS evaluation set-
aside. This trend continued in FY2016, and the agency has received its own annual discretionary
appropriation—but no transfer from the PHS evaluation set-aside—since that time.
Mandatory Funding Sources
With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, P.L. 111-148, as
amended), AHRQ began receiving additional transfers from two new mandatory funding streams:
(1) the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF), which is designed to support prevention,
wellness, and public health activities,6 and (2) the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust
Fund (PCORTF), which is designed to support comparative clinical effectiveness research.7
AHRQ received a share of total PPHF transfers in each of FY2010-FY2014, but received no
PPHF transfer in any fiscal year thereafter. The ACA directly appropriated annual funding to the
PCORTF beginning in FY2011 through FY2019 and required the HHS Secretary to transfer a
share of PCORTF funds to AHRQ each year. Funding for the PCORTF was extended for an
additional 10 years, through FY2029, in 2019. Funds transferred to AHRQ from PCORTF are
designated by the ACA to carry out PHSA Section 937, which requires AHRQ to disseminate the
results of patient-centered outcomes research carried out by the Patient Centered Outcomes
Research Institute (PCORI) and other “government-funded research relevant to comparative
clinical effectiveness research.” 8 AHRQ has received PCORTF transfers in each of FY2011-
FY2023 and, under current law, is scheduled to continue receiving PCORTF transfers through
FY2029. As illustrated in Figure 1, funding transfers from PPHF and initial funding transfers
from PCORTF have supplanted, to some extent, PHS evaluation set-aside dollars; since FY2015
these mandatory funds have supplanted a discretionary appropriation.
Figure 1 shows the funding sources for the agency’s budget from FY2010 (the first year ACA
funds were available) through FY2023. During this time, the agency’s budget has increased by
$82 million, as transfers (mostly from PCORTF) have more than offset decreases in PHS
evaluation set-aside dollars and discretionary appropriations in later years. However, funding for
the agency decreased in FY2016, by $14 million, for the first time since FY2011, despite an
increasing transfer from PCORTF. Funding for the agency has fluctuated since FY2016. Most
recently, funding increased by $29 million from FY2022 to FY2023. The figure also shows that
the majority of agency funding has come from PHS evaluation set-aside dollars, which accounted
for more than 80% of funding from FY2010 through FY2014, and its own discretionary
appropriation. From FY2015 onward, discretionary appropriations have made up more than 70%
of the agency’s funding; however, funding from PCORTF has also grown considerably over this

5 For more information about the PHS Program Evaluation Set-Aside, see CRS Report R47345, Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education: FY2023 Appropriations
.
6 For more information about PPHF, see Appendix C in CRS Report R44916, Public Health Service Agencies:
Overview and Funding (FY2016-FY2018)
and CRS Report R44796, The ACA Prevention and Public Health Fund: In
Brief
.
7 For more information about PCORTF, see CRS Insight IN11010, Funding for ACA-Established Patient-Centered
Outcomes Research Trust Fund (PCORTF) Extended Through FY2029
.
8 42 U.S.C. 299b-37.
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The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Budget: Fact Sheet

time period, from $8 million in FY2011 to $111 million in FY2023, increasing from 2% of the
agency’s budget in FY2011 to nearly 23% in FY2023.
Figure 1. AHRQ Budget, by Source, FY2010-FY2024 Request
(Dollars in Millions)

Source: AHRQ congressional budget justifications, FY2010-FY2024. All documents are available at
https://www.ahrq.gov/cpi/about/mission/index.html.
Notes: PPHF: Prevention and Public Health Fund; PCORTF: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund;
Tap Funds: PHS Program Evaluation Set-Aside dol ars; Discretionary: annual discretionary appropriation.
AHRQ Funding History
AHRQ’s funding level had been increasing steadily over the period FY2011 to FY2015, with
decreases in discretionary funding being more than offset by transfers of ACA mandatory funds.
However, in FY2016, the total funding level for the agency decreased for the first time since
FY2011, despite an increasing PCORTF transfer. Since FY2016, the funding level has shifted in
both directions, most recently increasing during the period FY2021 to FY2023. Table 1 provides
information on the past four years of the agency’s budget, as well as the FY2024 President’s
budget request.
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Table 1. AHRQ’s Budget, FY2020-FY2024 Request
Dollars in Millions, by Fiscal Year
2024
Program or Activity
2020
2021
2022
2023
Req.
Health Costs, Quality, and Outcomes
196
195
206
229
297
(HCQO) Research
Digital Healthcare Researcha
17
16
16
16
18
Patient Safety
72
72
80
90
91
Health Services Research, Data, and
96
95
98
111
170
Dissemination
U.S. Preventative Services Task Force
12
12
12
12
18
(USPSTF)
Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys
70
72
72
72
72
(MEPS)
Program Support

71
71
73
73
79
Total, Program Level
444
434
456
485
564
Less Funds from Other Sources





PHS Evaluation Set-Asideb




45
PCORTF Transfers
106
96
105
111
116
Total, Discretionary Appropriation
338
338
350
374
448
Source: Funding amounts are taken from AHRQ Budget Justifications for FY2020-FY2024. All documents are
available at https://www.ahrq.gov/cpi/about/mission/index.html.
Notes: PCORTF: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund; PPHF: Prevention and Public Health Fund;
PHS: Public Health Service. Individual amounts may not add to subtotals or totals due to rounding.
a. This was formerly called Health Information Technology Research.
b. The FY2024 Budget Justification includes the PHS Evaluation Set-Aside (“tap” fund) in the discretionary
appropriations sum.

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The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Budget: Fact Sheet


Author Information

Amanda K. Sarata
Sylvia L. Bryan
Specialist in Health Policy
Research Assistant




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Congressional Research Service
R44136 · VERSION 16 · UPDATED
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