AHRQ Has Begun Canceling Research Grants. Here's What We Know.

Researchers across the country are receiving official notices that AHRQ is ending grants that had already gone months without funding. AcademyHealth is working to document the scope of these cancellations, support affected researchers, and ensure policymakers understand the consequences.

For more than a year, AcademyHealth has warned that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was no longer functioning as Congress intended after mass firings and resignations under pressure left the agency with roughly 20 percent of its staff. Grant funding slowed to a halt. Researchers stopped receiving continuation awards. New projects were never launched. Despite receiving appropriated funding from Congress, the agency largely stopped investing in the research that helps make health care safer, more effective, and more affordable.

Yesterday, the situation took a significant turn.

Researchers across the country have begun receiving official notices from AHRQ informing them that continuation funding for their grants will not be awarded. While many investigators had gone months without receiving expected funding, these are the first formal notifications that ongoing projects are effectively being brought to an end. AcademyHealth is actively collecting information from researchers nationwide to understand the full scope of these actions.

What We Know So Far

While our assessment is ongoing, several patterns have already emerged:

• AcademyHealth has heard from more than 45 researchers and institutions that have received cancellation notices and additional reports continue to arrive.

• The notices span multiple types of awards, including research grants, career development awards, institutional training grants, and research infrastructure programs.

• Many recipients received nearly identical letters despite supporting very different types of research.

• Several affected projects directly address priorities AHRQ itself has publicly identified, including patient safety, antibiotic resistance, digital health, and reducing health disparities.

• Based on the information available today, these actions affect non-competing continuation funding that Congress has already appropriated.

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The affected projects are not concentrated in a single area of research. They include efforts to improve patient safety, strengthen health care delivery, reduce costs, train the next generation of researchers, and generate evidence to inform clinical practice and policy. Examples of affected work include:

• A randomized trial focused on antibiotic stewardship across 40 hospitals — directly aligned with preventing antibiotic resistance and improving patient safety.

• Research evaluating how Medicare and Medicaid policies affect vulnerable patients.

• Work examining medical debt and financial harm after illness or injury.

• Projects improving integration of behavioral health and substance use care in primary care settings.

• Training programs preparing the next generation of health services researchers.

Why This Matters

This is about much more than research funding.

The affected projects help hospitals prevent infections, improve patient safety, reduce unnecessary health care costs, train the next generation of health services researchers, evaluate new models of care, and generate the evidence clinicians and policymakers rely on every day.

When those projects stop, patients lose opportunities for better care. Health systems lose evidence they need to improve. Researchers lose years of work. And taxpayers lose the return on investments Congress has already made.

The cancellation notices also raise important questions about how these decisions were made. AcademyHealth is reviewing the notices carefully, consulting legal and policy experts, and working with congressional offices and partner organizations to understand what these actions mean and whether they are consistent with existing federal grant regulations.

What AcademyHealth Is Doing

This is exactly why AcademyHealth exists. Our goal is to keep our community informed and protect the research enterprise.

We are:

• Collecting and analyzing grant cancellation notices from across the country.

• Tracking the scope of affected awards and institutions.

• Briefing congressional offices and appropriations staff.

• Reviewing the notices with legal and policy experts to better understand the implications for researchers and the broader research enterprise. Engaging national reporters to ensure accurate coverage of what is happening.

• Coordinating with partner organizations across the research community.

• Providing researchers and policymakers with timely analysis and updates as the situation develops.

As we learn more, we will continue sharing updates through the Situation Report.

If You Received a Notice

If your AHRQ grant has been affected, we encourage you to contact us.

Please email advocacy@academyhealth.org and, if you’re willing, include:

• Your grant number

• Your institution

• The date you received the notice

• A copy of the notice

Every report helps us better understand the scope of these actions and strengthens our ability to advocate on behalf of the research community.

How You Can Help

This moment calls for the health services research community to speak with one voice.

You can help by:

• Contacting your Members of Congress and explaining what this means for your research, your institution, and the patients you serve. Sample language is below.

• Sharing your experience with AcademyHealth so we can document the national impact.

• Sharing this article with colleagues who may not yet know what’s happening.

• Supporting AcademyHealth’s advocacy efforts so we can continue responding rapidly when the evidence ecosystem is under threat.

For more than a year, AcademyHealth has worked to document the growing challenges facing AHRQ and the nation’s evidence infrastructure. We have analyzed federal grant data, met with Congressional leaders and submitted written testimony, coordinated advocacy across hundreds of organizations, supported litigation and a GAO investigation defending the agency’s statutory mission, and provided policymakers and journalists with timely analysis of developments affecting health services research.

Today’s grant cancellations represent another major turning point.

We will continue working to ensure researchers, policymakers, and the public understand not only what is happening, but why it matters for everyone who depends on better evidence to build a healthier America.

Subject: Please Protect AHRQ Research

Dear [Senator/Representative],

I am writing as a constituent to express my concern about recent actions affecting research funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Researchers across the country are receiving notices that continuation funding for ongoing projects is being canceled, despite Congress appropriating funding for the agency.

AHRQ-supported research helps improve patient safety, reduce health care costs, expand access to care, and ensure that clinicians have the evidence they need to deliver high-quality care. These projects are not abstract academic exercises—they directly improve the health care Americans receive every day.

I urge you to conduct oversight of these actions, seek transparency regarding the scope of the cancellations, and ensure that the funding Congress appropriated for AHRQ is being used consistent with the law and congressional intent.

Thank you for your leadership and your attention to this issue.