Enhanced quality requires the development of two types of measurements.
First, patients and purchasers need information to enable them to evaluate the quality of health care. During the question and answer period, Senator Frist noted that the agency has endured a significant decline in funding since 1995. Dr. Eisenberg acknowledged that the decline in funding has limited the agency's ability to move the field of health services research forward in a number of areas. He stated that the agency was only able to fund grants at the third percentile last year, but hopes to reach the fifteenth to eighteenth percentile this year. Dr. Kindig also stressed that the agency will require increased funding to fulfill an expanded role in health care quality activities.