Building the Field
AcademyHealth works to improve both the supply and quality of health services research by expanding and improving the scientific basis of the field, increasing the capabilities and skills of researchers and promoting the development of the necessary infrastructure of financial, human and data resources.
Current and former projects that support this effort are below.
Strengthening the Field of Health Services Research: A Needs Assessment of Key Producers and Users
With support from the Kellogg Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AcademyHealth conducted an exploratory study to assess the needs of the field as viewed from multiple perspectives. The report highlights the shared concern of multiple stakeholders that there is diminishing support for the field's basic infrastructure.
HSR Summit Series
Based on recommendations from the Strengthening the Field of Health Services Research: A Needs Assessment of Key Producers and Users report, AcademyHealth launched a series of high level meetings on the field's infrastructure needs. Each Summit 1) commissioned background papers; (2) convened invited stakeholders to discuss the papers and develop recommendations; and (3) disseminated these recommendations to critical audiences. The Summits covered the topics of workforce, methods and data, and knowledge transfer.
Methods Council
In May 2006, AcademyHealth's board of directors appointed a panel of esteemed researchers to serve on the first AcademyHealth Methods Council. Comprised of experts in the variety of fields that represent health services research and health policy, its purpose is to assist AcademyHealth in developing strategies for professional development in Health Services Research methods that take into account member needs, as well as the Council's view of future needs in the areas of training in best practices and the development of new methods. The Methods Council is appointed for a term of 3 year terms.
Advocacy: The Coalition for Health Services Research
The Coalition for Health Services Research is the advocacy arm of AcademyHealth and is supported by portions of AcademyHealth members' dues. Its mission is to build and advance the field of health services research. The Coalition asks that Congress legislate appropriate funding levels for the federal agencies that support health services research, as determined by the Coalition's leadership, and tracks the levels of agency funding recommended by the President, House, and Senate throughout the annual budget and appropriations cycle.
