Center for Financing Access and Cost Trends

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a sub-agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, funds research, analysis, and capacity-building activities aimed at improving healthcare quality, safety, and outcomes through project grants and cooperative arrangements. AHRQ operates as the federal focal point for health services research funding and evidence synthesis within HHS, with grant-making activity concentrated in academic medical centers, research universities, and specialty health organizations.

AHRQ has obligated $63.6 million in federal grant funding across 60 total awards since 2009, with combined federal and non-federal dollars obligated reaching $67.5 million. Recent grant activity shows 4 awards in 2020, 3 in 2021, 7 in 2022, 4 in 2023, and 5 in 2024, with the most recent award dated September 30, 2024. The agency has funded 39 distinct grant recipients over the portfolio history.

Grant recipient concentration is highly fragmented. Over the last five years, the top five recipients by award count account for 38 percent of recent awards, with the Regents of the University of Colorado leading at 2 awards totaling $296 thousand in federal dollars, followed by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc. (1 award, $1.2 million), American Statistical Association (1 award, $141 thousand), the General Hospital Corporation (1 award, $798 thousand), and the American Society of Health Economists (1 award, $300 thousand). By federal dollars obligated over the same window, the top five recipients represent 17 percent of recent federal funding, with the Regents of the University of Michigan leading at $3 million (1 award), followed by the University of Southern California at $2.4 million (1 award), the Regents of the University of Minnesota at $2.4 million (1 award), the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital at $1.9 million (1 award), and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc. at $1.2 million (1 award). This distribution reflects AHRQ's model of supporting dispersed academic and health-systems research rather than concentrating funding among a small set of institutional recipients.

All 60 awards in the portfolio are Project Grants, which fund discrete, time-limited research or evaluation projects aligned with AHRQ's strategic research priorities. No recent contract opportunities or recent grant opportunities are recorded in the source material for this agency.