The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has notified dozens of researchers that their ongoing grants will not receive additional funding, cutting short support for projects already underway. The move comes after months of uncertainty for investigators who had been waiting for renewed funding or trying, without success, to get clear answers from agency staff about the status of their awards.
According to AcademyHealth, the professional group for health services researchers, at least 78 grants have been affected. Those awards represented about $200 million in total funding, with $109.2 million still remaining when the notices were sent. The development has raised fresh concern among researchers about the stability of a field that depends heavily on federal support.
In letters reviewed by STAT, AHRQ told recipients that it was making changes to its discretionary health services research portfolio in order to better align resources with federal priorities. The agency said those priorities include patient safety, antibiotic resistance, artificial intelligence, long Covid, nutrition, and autism, among others. The notices arrived with two months left in the fiscal year, at a time when AHRQ had spent only 4% of its appropriated funds.
For researchers, the early termination of grants marks the latest turn in a nearly yearlong period of instability. While many had already been bracing for disruptions, the loss of remaining funding still leaves unanswered questions about the future of health services research and the projects now left unfinished.
Source: statnews.com
