(This analysis is a preview of the
VA section in the forthcoming AAAS Report XXXIII: Research and Development
FY 2009, a comprehensive look at the President's budget for R&D in FY
2009. This analysis contains AAAS estimates of VA R&D. More tables and continually
updated supplemental materials on R&D in the FY 2008 budget can be found on
the AAAS R&D Web site at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
Highlights
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The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) R&D portfolio, after climbing the
past two years from emergency appropriations, would decline slightly by 0.8 percent
to $884 million in the FY 2009 budget (see Table II-19).
VA R&D in the FY 2009 Budget
The
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is one of the 10 largest R&D funding agencies
in the federal government, 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, two-thirds of whom are clinicians-researchers. The
entire R&D investment takes place in VA hospitals and laboratories, although
many VA investigators hold joint appointments with academic institutions, and
much of VA research is collaborative with other institutions. More than half of
all VA research is for investigator-initiated research projects, with the remainder
a mix of centers of excellence, career development, and service-directed research.
The
Medical and Prosthetic Research budget account is the core of VA’s research effort,
but it funds just a portion of VA’s total R&D, for support of direct R&D
costs in a $442 million request for FY 2009. Support costs, infrastructure, and
other indirect costs as well as the salaries of clinician-researchers who both
treat patients and perform research are funded out of other VA medical care accounts.
After including support costs, total federally funded VA R&D would be $884
million in FY 2009, down $7 million or 0.8 percent from the final 2008 funding
level (see Table II-19). The final 2007 and 2008
funding levels include $33 million in 2007 and $69 million in 2008 emergency appropriations
for R&D related to Iraq
war veterans’ needs, so the 2009 request would be an increase over non-emergency
appropriations.
VA
classifies its R&D program into four major divisions: biomedical laboratory
science, rehabilitation research, health services research, and clinical science.
The other budget line, the largest one, is for research support costs. Biomedical
laboratory science is the largest division with $259 million in FY 2009 for investigator-initiated
research projects in areas with special relevance for veterans such as aging,
chronic disease, and environmental exposures. Rehabilitation research would receive
$57 million for science and technology to improve quality of life for the disabled,
such as improved prosthetics. Health services research ($71 million in FY 2009)
focuses on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of health care services
and translating research into clinical practice. Finally, clinical science research
would receive $75 million next year to fund clinical trials and other medical
research utilizing the large patient network in VA medical facilities. VA estimates
that the 2009 budget would allow funding for 1,956 research projects, down from
the 2,000+ projects in recent years. Among research topics cutting across the
four major divisions, most topics would receive flat funding, but funding for
several research topics tied to the 2008 war supplemental such as combat-related
mental health, environmental exposures, and acute and traumatic injuries would
fall.
VA
scientists also compete for research funding from other agencies (such as NIH
and DOD), foundations, and industry. Next year, VA projects that $961 million
in R&D funding will come from other sources, mostly from VA scientists winning
federal research grants, which could result in a total VA portfolio of $1.8 billion
when combined with VA appropriations.
VA
federal R&D has flattened out in recent years even as the overall VA budget
has grown (see Figure 1). After peaking in 2004, VA R&D fell in 2005 because
of tough budgetary pressures for domestic spending in general and veterans spending
in particular. Emergency appropriations in 2007 and 2008 have allowed VA R&D
to show growth again in recent years. It remains to be seen whether Congress will
reverse the cut in the 2009 VA R&D request, either in regular appropriations
or through emergency supplementals. (Note: Years ago, VA did not count support,
salary, and infrastructure costs in its R&D. The big jump in FY 1997 in Figure
1 represents VA’s decision to add in these costs beginning that year.)
Figure
1. (click on the image for PDF)
(More
materials on R&D in the FY 2009 budget, historical data and charts, and more
information on AAAS Report XXXIII: Research and Development FY 2009, can
be found on the AAAS R&D Web site at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
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February 12, 2008
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Avenue,
NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607
AAAS R&D Web site: http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd
