(This analysis is a preview of the VA section
in the forthcoming AAAS Report XXX: Research and Development FY
2006, a comprehensive look at the President’s budget for R&D in
FY 2006. More tables and continually updated supplemental materials on
R&D in the FY 2006 budget can be found on the AAAS R&D Web site
at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
Highlights
- The Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) once again proposes to reorganize its budget to fully report all
costs associated with its R&D portfolio, including support and personnel
costs.
- VA federal R&D would total $786 million in FY 2006 (see Table
II-19), up slightly by 0.3 percent.
VA R&D in the FY 2006 Budget: Proposed Reorganizations, Flat Funding
The Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) is one of the 10 largest R&D funding agencies
in the federal government, with the 10th largest R&D
portfolio in the FY 2006 budget request, but receives relatively little
attention because its entire R&D investment goes to its own nationwide
network of VA hospitals.
VA’s Medical
and Prosthetic Research is a longstanding program of research aimed
at improving health care for veterans through research on injuries and
illnesses with special relevance to veterans. All scientists and engineers
who receive VA funds must be VA employees, and thus its entire R&D
investment takes place in VA hospitals and laboratories except for a
small proportion of VA investigators who hold joint appointments with
academic institutions. Most of the roughly 3000 investigators supported
by VA are physician-scientists doing both clinical practice and research.
The Medical and
Prosthetic Research budget account is the core of VA’s research effort,
but in the past it has funded just over half of VA’s total R&D for
support of direct R&D costs. Investigator salaries, support costs,
infrastructure, and other costs have been funded out of other VA medical
care accounts. The FY 2006 budget proposes to consolidate all these
R&D costs into the Medical and Prosthetic Research account in a
request of $786 million, compared to a 2005 appropriation of $406 million.
After adjusting the 2005 budget for support costs, the 2006 request
represents a $2 million or 0.3 percent gain (see Table
II-19). The meager increase would lead to a 2 percent cut in the
number of funded projects down to 2,655. VA has requested this consolidation
twice before, but Congress has kept funding under the old system.
VA classifies
its R&D program into four major areas: biomedical laboratory science,
rehabilitation research, health services research, and clinical science.
Biomedical laboratory science is the largest category with $452 million
in FY 2006 for investigator-initiated research projects in areas with
special relevance for veterans such as aging, chronic disease, and environmental
exposures. Rehabilitation research would receive $99 million for science
and technology to improve quality of life for the disabled, such as
improved prosthetics. Health services research ($120 million in FY 2006)
focuses on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of health care
services and translating research into clinical practice. Finally, clinical
science research would receive $128 million next year to fund clinical
trials and other medical research utilizing the large patient network
in VA medical facilities.
VA scientists
also compete for research funding from other agencies (such as NIH and
DOD), foundations, and industry. Next year, VA projects that $866 million
in R&D funding will come from other sources, resulting in a total
VA portfolio of $1.7 billion when combined with VA appropriations (see
Table II-19).
Figure 1. (click
on the image for PDF)
VA federal R&D has mostly expanded
in recent years as the overall VA budget has grown (see Figure 1). After
peaking last year, VA R&D would fall in 2005 and 2006 because of
tough budgetary pressures for domestic spending. Years ago, VA did not
count support, salary, and infrastructure costs in its R&D funding.
The big jump in FY 1997 represents VA's decision to add in these costs
beginning that year. In FY 2006, VA will face the appropriations process
in a new subcommittee, after both the House and Senate disbanded the
VA-HUD-Independent Agencies subcommittee a few weeks ago. VA will be
funded through a new Military Quality of Life and Veterans subcommittee,
combining DOD military construction and other quality of life programs
with VA programs.
Because of VA’s
mission focus on veterans health needs, nearly all (80 percent) of its
research funding is in the life sciences, especially the medical sciences.
But VA also supports psychology research on veterans’ responses to combat
situations and engineering research to develop better prosthetics.
- March 3, 2005 (revised March 18)
(More materials on R&D in the FY 2006 budget, historical data and
charts, and more information on AAAS Report XXX: R&D FY 2006,
can be found on the AAAS R&D web site at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
AAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
www.aaas.org/spp/rd
