The crisis surrounding the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has deepened, with AcademyHealth, a member-based organization focused on health services and policy research, warning that the agency is now effectively being dismantled after nearly all active research grants were canceled and its grantmaking infrastructure largely shut down. The organization says the latest actions threaten patient safety research, healthcare quality improvement efforts, and the nation's ability to generate evidence on how care is delivered.

The developments built on concerns AcademyHealth raised earlier this year, when the organization described AHRQ as "funded but frozen." Although Congress appropriated approximately $345 million for AHRQ in fiscal year 2026, AcademyHealth President and CEO Aaron Carroll, M.D., told Healthcare Innovation that the agency had stopped functioning as Congress intended, issuing no new grants while ongoing research projects remained unfunded due to extensive staffing losses.

According to AcademyHealth's latest update, AHRQ has not issued a new research grant since April 2025, roughly 80 percent of its workforce has departed, and nearly every active grant has now been terminated. The organization estimates that more than 80 research awards representing over $200 million in taxpayer investment have been canceled, affecting studies focused on patient safety, healthcare delivery, quality improvement, and workforce challenges. AcademyHealth argues the agency will be unable to spend nearly 90 percent of the funding Congress directed it to invest in health services research this fiscal year.

AcademyHealth contends that the grant cancellations jeopardize not only ongoing research but also the infrastructure supporting learning health systems and evidence-based improvements in care. The organization has called on Congress to investigate why appropriated funds have not reached researchers and to restore AHRQ's capacity to carry out its statutory mission.

Pietje Kobus-McAllister has an international background and experience in content management and editing. She studied journalism in the Netherlands and Communications and Creative Nonfiction in the U.S. Pietje joined Healthcare Innovation in January 2024.