Narrative By Activity

Narrative By Activity

The budget is arrayed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) budget activities:

1. Health Care Costs, Quality, and Outcomes (HCQO).
2. Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).
3. Program Support.

Health Care Costs, Quality, and Outcomes (HCQO): Summary

The purpose of the activities funded under the Research on Health Costs, Quality and Outcomes (HCQO) budget line is to support, conduct and disseminate research to improve the outcomes, quality, cost, use and accessibility of health care. Accordingly, the Agency has developed four main strategic goal areas:

1. Safety/Quality.
2. Efficiency.
3. Effectiveness.
4. Organizational Excellence.

For details, select Research on Health Costs, Quality, and Outcomes.

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS): Summary

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey is the only national source for annual data on how Americans use and pay for medical care. It supports all of AHRQ's research related strategic goal areas. The survey collects detailed information from families on access, use, expense, insurance coverage and quality. Data are disseminated to the public through printed and Web-based tabulations, micro data files and research reports/journal articles.

The data from the MEPS have become a linchpin for the public and private economic models projecting health care expenditures and utilization. This level of detail enables public and private sector economic models to develop national and regional estimates of the impact of changes in financing, coverage, and reimbursement policy, as well as estimates of who benefits and who bears the cost of a change in policy. No other surveys provide the foundation for estimating the impact of changes on different economic groups or special populations of interest, such as the poor, elderly, veterans, the uninsured, or racial/ethnic groups. Government and non-governmental entities rely upon these data to evaluate health reform policies, the effect of tax code changes on health expenditures and tax revenue, and proposed changes in government health programs such as Medicare. In the private sector (e.g., RAND, Heritage Foundation, Lewin-VHI, and the Urban Institute), these data are used by many private businesses, foundations and academic institutions to develop economic projections. These data represent a major resource for the health services research community at large. Since 2000, data on premium costs from the MEPS Insurance Component have been used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to produce estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the Nation. In addition, the MEPS establishment surveys have been coordinated with the National Compensation Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics through participation in the Inter-Departmental Work Group on Establishment Health Insurance Surveys.

For details, select Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Program Support: Summary

Program Support supports the overall direction and management of the AHRQ. This includes the formulation of policies and program objectives; and administrative management and services activities.

For details, select Program Support.

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