Information and Evaluation, NIA). Table 7-1 summarizes funds for research on aging as reported by the institutes.

Veterans 65 and older constituted 27 percent of the veteran population in 1990, and this figure is expected to rise to 37 percent by the year 2000. The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) has been a leader in the development of research and training in geriatrics and gerontology in this country. In fiscal year 1990 the DVA reported about $17 million for age-related research, or 8.5 percent of the 1990 research budget of $201 million for the Department of Medicine and Surgery (Office of Assistant Chief Medical Director for Research and Development, DVA).

In fiscal year 1990 the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) spent $42 million on research on aging, including $38 million on age-related research by the National Institute of Mental Health, or 4.9 percent of its total research budget of $855 million (Division of Financial Management, ADAMHA).

The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) is the overseeing federal agency for Medicare and Medicaid, and in fiscal year 1990 it committed approximately $40 million to age-related studies, or about 82 percent of its research budget of $49 million for that year, largely in health services delivery (Office of Research and Demonstrations, HCFA). Most of this support was for demonstration projects; although demonstration projects can contribute to an understanding of aging, the committee believes that these funds cannot entirely be credited to support of research on aging.

The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) (formerly the National Center for Health Services Research and Health Care) spent $19 million on research on aging, or about 20 percent of its research budget of $95 million in fiscal year 1990 (Office of Financial Management, AHCPR). Most of the research supported was directed to the area of health services delivery.