NIH OPASI Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC)


		Introducing RCDC The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the Nation's main medical research agency. Funded by U.S. tax dollars, the NIH supports researchers throughout the country and around the world as they work to improve people's health. The NIH recognizes the importance of keeping the American people informed about how their tax dollars are spent to support medical research. In 2009, the NIH will unveil the Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) system. RCDC will provide consistent and transparent information to the public about NIH research. With this new computer-based tool, the public will see NIH's research activities broken down into 215 categories each fiscal year. The categories cover research areas, diseases, and conditions. The new system will produce a complete list of all NIH-funded projects related to each category. Some of the research funding amounts that the RCDC system will report may differ from NIH reports issued in the past. That is because RCDC will sort funded research using a new method. For the first time, this new method will apply the same definition for grants, contracts, and research conducted within NIH's own laboratories and clinics (intramural research) for each category across all of NIH. The way NIH budgets and spends tax dollars throughout the year will stay the same. With the release of the President's budget in the spring of 2009, NIH will post the RCDC report on research funded in fiscal year 2008 on a public website. Through the website, anyone will be able to access, view, print, or download this detailed report. Between now and then, NIH will share more information about RCDC with the public.