Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement

The Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is a civilian sub-agency within HHS that funds applied health services research, evidence synthesis, and quality-improvement studies across the U.S. health system. AHRQ operates as the principal federal funder of research on how healthcare is organized, delivered, and financed, supporting academic medical centers, research institutes, and health systems in identifying and scaling practices that improve patient outcomes and reduce costs.

AHRQ has awarded 577 federal grants totaling $985.7 million (with $1.04 billion in combined federal and non-federal dollars) since 2010. Recent activity shows 40 awards in 2021, 55 in 2022, 64 in 2023, 38 in 2024, and 3 so far in 2026, with the most recent grant award closed in April 2026. The grant portfolio is highly fragmented by recipient concentration: the top five recipients account for only 18 percent of recent awards and 6 percent of federal dollars obligated over the last five years. The Johns Hopkins University leads by award count with 8 recent awards and $12.3 million in federal dollars obligated, followed by the Regents Of The University Of Michigan (6 awards, $13.8 million) and The Regents Of The University Of Colorado (6 awards, $11.2 million). The portfolio spans 175 distinct recipients, indicating a distributed funding approach across the academic medical research landscape.

Grant awards are predominantly Project Grants, which comprise 542 awards (94 percent of the total), with Cooperative Agreements making up the remaining 35 awards (6 percent). The Project Grant structure aligns with AHRQ's mission to fund time-limited evidence-generation and implementation studies rather than long-term cooperative programs requiring ongoing federal involvement.

No recent contract opportunities or grant opportunities are recorded in the source data. No recent contract awards are present; AHRQ operates exclusively through the grant-making side.