�鶹Ů��

AHRQ—pronounced “arc” by wonks—is quietly lauded by fans and vocally scorned by detractors. Its mission of figuring out how to improve the healthcare system is all the more daunting for its relatively puny annual budget that for several years has hovered around $430 million. But research supported by AHRQ, sometimes solely so, has transformed the underpinnings of a sector that not only directly manages life and death but also encompasses nearly one-fifth of the U.S. economy. The HHS agency's anonymity might be inherent in the nature of its work, but its obscurity has serious implications as federal healthcare policy is thrown into tumult with the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. (Whitman, 11/19)

The head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is warning that plans to pass a short-term government spending bill could deal a blow to health research. NIH Director Francis Collins on Thursday called the plan for a continuing resolution (CR), which would extend current spending levels until March, "an extremely unfortunate and painful outcome for biomedical research.”Collins said researchers needed more funding. (Chacko, 11/18)