Clifton Gaus, Administrator of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Interview by Mark Hagland.

Clifton Gaus, Sc.D., joined the federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) last July, at a time when the agency's star had reached its zenith. With positive response from the field for its work in outcomes measurement research and the development of clinical guidelines, AHCPR was able to cite an array of accomplishments since its creation by Congress in 1989 (when the National Center for Health Services Research was subsumed into the new agency). But now AHCPR faces possibly severe budget cuts, or even elimination, by congressional leaders bent on balancing the budget. Gaus spoke last month with executive editor Mark Hagland on the agency's budget battles, its achievements to date, and its future.