    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [December 6, 1999]
    [Pages 2215-2216]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999
    December 6, 1999

        Today I am pleased to sign S. 580, the ``Healthcare Research and
    Quality Act of 1999,'' which authorizes appropriations for the Agency
    for Health Care Policy and Research (and renames it the ``Agency for
    Healthcare Research and Quality'') and authorizes a new grant program to
    support children's hospitals with graduate medical education programs.
        This legislation combines two important health care priorities of my
    Administration: first, ensuring that our Nation's children, especially
    those who suffer from complex or unusual diseases, continue to receive
    the highest quality care that our health care system can provide; and
    second, developing the scientific evidence that we need to improve the
    quality and safety of our health care system.
        The Act takes an important first step to ensure the delivery of high
    quality health care for America's children by investing Federal funds in
    graduate medical education at freestanding children's hospitals. This
    long overdue initiative was included in my Administration's FY 2000
    budget and was strongly advocated by the First Lady. Her leadership in this area is longstanding, and it is
    with great pride that I sign this groundbreaking legislation.
        In an increasingly competitive health care market dominated by
    managed care, teaching hospitals struggle to cover the significant costs
    associated with training and research as private reimbursements decline.
    Millions of American children each year are treated by physicians
    affiliated with or trained in one of 60 independent children's hospitals
    across the country. While other teaching hospitals receive support for
    these costs through Medicare, children's hospitals receive virtually no
    Federal funds, even though they train nearly 30 percent of the Nation's
    pediatricians and nearly 50 percent of all pediatric specialists. This
    inequity exacerbates an already difficult financial situation for
    children's hospitals, which often serve the poorest, sickest, and most
    vulnerable children. In many cases, they provide the regional safety net
    for children, regardless of medical or economic need, and they are the
    major centers of research on children's health problems.
        This Act creates a new grant program to provide much-needed support
    for the training of these critical health providers. I am pleased that
    the Consolidated Appropriations Act that I recently approved included my
    full $40 million request to get this program started.
        The Act also authorizes appropriations through 2005 for the Agency
    for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and represents the
    culmination of a genuine bipartisan effort to

    [[Page 2216]]

    make better information available to health care decisionmakers to use
    to improve health care. AHRQ will help close the numerous data gaps
    throughout the health care delivery system. It will also serve as a
    bridge between the best science in the world with the best health care
    in the world.
        The AHRQ will build on the foundation of strong scientific
    approaches to health services research established by the Agency for
    Health Care Policy and Research. This legislation was passed on an
    overwhelmingly bipartisan basis by the Congress, which is a tribute to
    the many members of both chambers, from both sides of the aisle. I
    particularly want to single out Senators Frist
    and Kennedy and Congressmen
    Bliley, Dingell,
    Bilirakis, and Brown, who have championed quality information for quality
    health care, for their commitment to this important reauthorization.
        The AHRQ is now designated the lead Federal agency in health care
    quality to help meet the needs of decisionmakers and work in partnership
    with the private sector. AHRQ will develop a national report on quality,
    stimulate evidence-based medicine, sponsor primary care research, help
    eliminate medical errors, and apply the power of information systems and
    technology in a manner that assures adequate patient privacy
    protections. AHRQ will also be a principal source of research that will
    guide health plans, purchasers, health care systems, clinicians, and
    policymakers as they seek to improve access to health care and make it
    affordable for all Americans.
        I am delighted to sign S. 580, which will support research needed to
    improve health care and help train new pediatricians and pediatric sub-
    specialists who will be able to put this knowledge to work for America's
    children.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,

    December 6, 1999.

    Note: S. 580, approved December 6, was assigned Public Law No. 106-129.