DISABILITY AND REHABILITATION RESEARCH COALITION FUNDING INCREASES

On December 22, 2022, Congress voted to pass the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, the omnibus government funding bill for the remainder of FY 2023. This bill includes relevant highlights to governing disability & rehabilitation programs that may influence recreational therapy and those who benefit from our services.

Funding increases included the following:

• NIDILRR will receive an increase of $2.5 million, for a total budget of $119 million in FY 2023.

• NIH will receive an increase of $2.5 billion, for a total budget of $47.5 billion in FY 2023.
• Each Institute & Center will receive at least a 3.8% increase over FY 2022 funding levels.
• NICHD, which houses NCMRR, will receive an increase of $66 million for a total budget of $1.75 billion in FY 2023.

• The CDC will receive an increase of $760 million, for a total budget of $9.2 billion in FY 2023.
• The CDC report also includes the following language on disability & health activities at CDC:
• Disability and Health – The agreement includes an increase of $3,000,000 to continue to strengthen existing programs that address healthy athletes and an increase of $1,000,000 to continue existing activities that improve physical activity and fund health promotion for people with mobility disabilities. in addition, the agreement includes an increase of $2,500,000 and recommends CDC use the funds to encourage partnership between national disability organizations and institutions of higher education to conduct implementation science research on health promotion, disease prevention, and intervention strategies for people with disabilities.

• AHRQ will receive a total of $228.6 million for health care costs, quality, and outcomes research.
• This total includes $10 million set aside for Long COVID research; AHRQ’s program language is below:
• Long COVID Research – The agreement includes $10,000,000 for health-systems research on how best to deliver patient-centered, coordinated care to those living with Long COVID, including the development and implementation of new models of care to help treat the complexity of symptoms those with Long COVID experience.
• The bill also includes the following language on disability research at AHRQ:
• People with Disabilities – The agreement includes $750,000 for AHRQ to work with stakeholders to develop a research agenda and report for dissemination on health promotion, disease prevention, and intervention strategies for people with disabilities.

• The Paralysis Resource Center will receive a $1 million increase for a total budget of $10.7 million.
• The Limb Loss Resource Center will receive a $200,000 increase for a total budget of $4.2 million.
• ACL’s Traumatic Brain Injury programs will receive a $1.3 million increase for a total budget of $13.118 million.