The federal government eliminated nearly 20 years of medical guidelines accumulated and curated by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

AHRQ web pages for the National Guideline Clearinghouse and the National Quality Measures Clearinghouse featured announcements stating they would go dark on July 16, 2018.

“It is not clear at this time when or if NGC (or something like NGC) will be online again,” AHRQ’s notice said, citing federal cutbacks as the reason. “AHRQ will no longer be able to support the NGC.”

[UPDATE: ECRI to host unplugged AHRQ clinical guidelines]

The NGC site tallies about 200,000 visitors to its website each month and is under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services.

AHRQ noted that it is looking for a partner that can carry on the work and has seen some interest but it’s not clear when or if another agency might take over. Also, AHRQ has not yet determined whether it would have an ongoing role if another party were to continue operating the NGC or the NQMC site.

The operating budget for the NGC last year was $1.2 million, AHRQ spokesperson Alison Hunt said in a statement.

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