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Patient-safety programs expected to get more money

New funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality would pay for grants and training patient-safety experts.

By Andis Robeznieks, amednews staff. July 22, 2002.

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The bad news is that the Bush administration's proposed fiscal year 2003 budget includes cutting the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's funding by 16%.

The good news is that funding for the agency's patient-safety research projects actually will increase.

According to AHRQ spokeswoman Karen Migdail, the proposed budget would provide the agency with $48.6 million less than it had the year before, leaving it with $251.7 million.

But patient-safety efforts would receive about $60 million, or $5 million more than during fiscal year 2002.

"Patient safety is a national priority, and it's reflected in this budget," Migdail said. "There's been a real recognition that these programs are important and are part of [U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services] Secretary [Tommy] Thompson's agenda, and this budget recognizes that."

Last fall, HHS unveiled a program under which it funneled $50 million through the AHRQ into 94 different projects and studies aimed at reducing the number of deaths caused by medical errors.

Included in this program are 24 demonstration projects on reporting medical error data, 22 projects on using computers and information technology to reduce errors, and eight projects studying the impact of working conditions on patient safety.

Migdail said no decision had been made on where funding would be cut, but she said the cost of the patient-safety projects were built into the budget and most likely would be left alone.

The $5 million in new funding the agency's patient-safety efforts will receive will be split between local challenge grants and training onsite patient-safety experts. [...]