2016 budget increases NIH funding, eliminates AHRQ

The draft bill would keep funding for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT the same as last year at $60.4 million despite the Obama administration's request for an increase to $91.8 million. The bill would cut funding for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services $344 million below 2015 funding levels and $919 million below the administration’s budget request.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) called aspects of the draft bill troubling, noting that termination of the $465 million AHRQ would severely impact the development of evidence-based care. Health IT research is one of AHRQ’s areas of focus and its 2016 budget request called for a total of $20 million in research grant support.

The AAMC noted that the draft bill rescinds approximately $7 billion from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and $100 million from the Patient Center Research Outcomes Institutes (PCORI), undercutting “efforts to transform patient care.” They added that “the subcommittee’s allocation is insufficient to meet the nation’s health needs.”