STAT+: Federal health quality research grants worth $109 million ended early
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- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality sent notices last week to dozens of researchers informing them they would not receive future installments of funding for ongoing research grants, capping nearly a year of uncertainty for the field.
- AcademyHealth confirmed at least 78 grants worth $200 million have been affected, with $109.2 million in funding still remaining on those awards at the time of termination.
- AHRQ told grant recipients in letters of "non-award" that it is "adjusting its discretionary health services research award portfolio" to prioritize research on patient safety, antibiotic resistance, AI, long Covid, nutrition, and autism.
- Health services researchers reported they had been waiting months for renewed funding or had been unable to get explanations from AHRQ staffers about why the funding spigots had run dry.
Why it matters: At least 78 active AHRQ-funded projects were terminated mid-stream, erasing $109.2 million in remaining research dollars and leaving health services researchers — who had already endured months of unexplained funding stalls — suddenly without support for ongoing work.
