The Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) and North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) have sued Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for halting all grant-making at the Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ). 

The organizations noted that AHRQ was established by Congress as a hub within HHS to support health services research — including research into how our health system works, how to support patients and clinicians in choosing the best care, and how to improve health by improving healthcare delivery. AHRQ carries out much of its work through grants to researchers, awarding funds to the strongest and most innovative proposals for addressing the country’s top healthcare priorities.

Despite the statutorily required support for health services research that AHRQ provides through its grant-making program, HHS has stopped all grant-making at AHRQ. “It has destroyed the agency’s capacity to process grant applications, withheld decisions on pending grant applications, and refused to spend appropriated funds — resulting in an unlawful impoundment of millions of dollars that Congress instructed AHRQ to spend on grant-making and other research functions,” the groups said. 

“To have a healthcare system in which all people can achieve optimal health, we need HHS and AHRQ to resume support for research focused on improving the delivery of healthcare,” said Eric Bass, M.D., M.P.H., SGIM’s CEO, in a statement. “Unfortunately, HHS and AHRQ abandoned support for the healthcare research that Congress expected to be performed with the funds appropriated for the agency — contrary to the administration’s commitment to Making America Healthy Again.”

“Primary care research is the backbone of healthy communities and better patient care, yet it has long been underfunded and overlooked,” said Alan Katz, MBChB,  NAPCRG’s incoming president, in a statement. “NAPCRG researchers produce the evidence that transforms primary care — improving outcomes, guiding cost-effective solutions, and shaping real-world practice. We’re proud to join this suit to ensure that our members and other researchers can keep working to provide patients, providers, and communities with research-driven care, just as Congress intended.”

In a July blog post, Academy Health execs noted that at a time when rural hospitals are under tremendous pressure, AHRQ  is the key federal agency for supporting the research, dissemination, and implementation of evidence that addresses rural hospital closures and works to ensure continued access to quality care for rural communities. “Unfortunately, DOGE and HHS have nearly eliminated this Agency through a series of impoundments and unauthorized reorganization efforts. With the clock ticking on rural hospitals collapsing, it is critical that Congress ensure that AHRQ has the resources, staff, and support that it needs to answer the call that rural communities are making.”


Public Citizen Litigation Group represents SGIM and NAPCRG in the lawsuit.