Department of Health and Human Services

The lion’s share of the $697.3 billion FY 2008 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is allocated towards Medicare (55.4 percent) and Medicaid (29.0 percent) spending. Discretionary programs, such as the Food and Drug Administration, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), represent only 9.9 percent of the total HHS budget.

 

Within the Administration for Children and Families, the Administration proposes elimination of four programs related to community and economic development. The largest, Community Services Block Grants ($630 million in FY06), “is unable to demonstrate long-term outcomes,” according to the HHS FY08 budget summary. Community Economic Development, Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals, and Rural Community Facilities share a $40 million line item that is zeroed out.

 

The FY08 budget request for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is $330 million. AHRQ priorities in FY08 are the Personalized Health Care Initiative and the Value-Driven Health Care Initiative. Both work to move innovations more quickly into the care delivery system and more efficiently through greater personalization of healthcare provision.

 

National Institutes of Health

The total NIH FY08 request is $28.86 billion, which the agency anticipates will allow them to award 10,188 new research grants throughout its 27 institutes and centers. About 84 percent of funds appropriated to NIH will be distributed outside of the organization, supporting more than 300,000 scientists and research personnel around the country.

 

There is some difference of opinion regarding how the NIH budget request compares with FY07 figures. The HHS budget summary reports the FY08 request is $232 million higher than FY07. A budgetary analysis performed by the Association of American Medical Colleges argues the FY08 request will result in a cut of almost $500 million (2 percent) in NIH appropriations.

 

Comparing FY07 and FY08 requests for the 27 individual institutes and centers reveals only minor adjustments with the exception of the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which would receive a $198 million bump-up.

 

The Office of the Secretary would receive an increase of $33 million to coordinate cross-cutting research projects.

 

Highlighted NIH priorities in FY08 include:

• Biodefense - $1.7 billion, which will be focused on research efforts involving vaccine delivery and efficacy, developing therapeutics for high priority viral pathogens, and evaluating microbe-host interactions;
• Global Fund Contribution - $300 million will come from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria around the world;
• Roadmap for Biomedical Research - $486 million, consisting of three main areas: New Pathways to Discovery, Research Teams of the Future, and Re-engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise;
• New Investigators - $31 million for a new Pathway to Independence program that will provide increased support (175 new awards estimated) for investigators engaging in interdisciplinary research; and,
• New Clinical and Translational Science Award - $20 million for academic health centers to capitalize on Roadmap initiatives by advancing information technology, integrating research networks, and stimulating the development of computer-assisted outcome measurement.

The FY08 NIH SBIR/STTR budget for research grants is estimated to total $603 million.