Government Regulations and Regulatory Agencies

Running head: GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AND REGULATORY AGENCIES 1
Government Regulations and Regulatory Agencies
HAS 4421
Team Member Names

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AND REGULATORY AGENCIES 2
Government Regulations and Regulatory Agencies
Introduction
It is the role of any government to provide universal and quality health care to its
citizenry. For this to be achieved effectively, many governments delegate this role to certain
agencies. The primary role of these agencies is to help the government achieve its objectives in
terms of quality health care as well as carrying out necessary research from time to time. They
also have the responsibility of advising the government on health care matters and how to
improve the sector. This paper intends to discuss the role of Agency for health care research and
quality (AHRQ) as well as Agency for toxic substance and disease registry (ATSDR) in the
department in charge of health in the U.S. It also seeks to discuss their respective history and
how effective they have been in discharging their responsibilities.
AHQR BACKGROUND
AHRQ is the first institution to focus on. Its area of responsibility is America’s health
care system. It has the burden of making it safe and ensures no compromise of quality. Its
mission is to produce evidence with the aim of making health safer, higher quality as well as
making it accessible, equitable, and affordable (Stephenson, 2016). They have also had the
responsibility of making sure the evidence produced is understood and used accordingly by the
department in charge of health as well as other players in the health sector. It does this by
developing knowledge, tools, as well as data, which are vital as far as improving the health care
system, is concerned. Notably, this helps health care professionals to make sound decisions.
AHRQ was created on December 19, 1989, like AHCPR as a provision of an Act of
parliament in the year1989 (Carpenter et al., 2018). Due to reauthorization, there was a change of
name to AHRQ in the year 1999, as a provision of an Act of parliament in the year1999.

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AND REGULATORY AGENCIES 3
AHRQ budgetary allocation in 2017 was 470 million dollars, which was an increase
compared to 2016 allocation which was 428 million dollars. Health Services Research, Data, and
Dissemination received the lions share with 113 million dollars going towards the same
(Kingsley, 2018). The overall increase in budget can be attributed to the need to carry out quality
research and therefore provide credible information to clinicians, providers and policymakers.
The AHRQ has the responsibility of determining the standards of quality health care and
make sure providers are meeting them. By use of quality indicators, they are able to establish
whether a particular provider is meeting the recommended standard
AHRQ Divisions
Priority populations division helps the agency in achieving improvements as far as
marginalized population health care is concerned. Marginalized populations, as well as locations,
are well classified in the Act under which AHRQ is anchored. Minority ethnic group’s as well
low income earners are some of the groups classified as marginalized.
The main role of this division is to reduce disparities in health care level of the
marginalized groups and localities. They do so by engaging the top leadership of AHRQ as well
as colleagues and also engaging the US department of health leadership and other partners. They
also conduct studies and provide advice on the priority population. In addition, they engage with
other players to support research and execution of evidence regarding marginalized populations
and localities.
To achieve their goals, the division of marginalized populations and localities observes
some core values. Notably, these value ranges from integrity, collaboration, commitment, and
diversity and inclusion. Some of their goals include stimulating cooperation within and across
AHRQ, identifying key topics of emphasis, and development of research strategies.