The Listening Project is an ongoing effort aimed at identifying the most pressing health services research needs of leaders in health policy and health care delivery for the coming three to five years. Its goal is to foster greater interaction among the producers, users, and funders of health services research to spur the development and use of more relevant and timely evidence. As such, it supports AcademyHealth’s vision to improve health and health care by generating new knowledge and moving that knowledge into policy and practice.
The Listening Project undertakes two types of reports. One focuses on the research needs of policymakers and the analysts who advise them, and the second on the needs of health care delivery system leaders. To produce each report, AcademyHealth staff conduct telephone and in-person interviews with key informants and use standard qualitative data analysis techniques to identify and synthesize major themes. External committees of experts and interviewees review draft findings, and each final report becomes the basis for AcademyHealth-sponsored follow-on activities including structured discussions among the producers, funders, and users of research and Evidence Roadmaps intended to help decision makers identify the evidence that does exist to address each gap.
Reports and Publications
NEW! The AcademyHealth Listening Project: Improving the Evidence Base for Safety Net Health Care Delivery
This report provides an in-depth look at the evidence and data needs that safety net health system leaders see as top-of-mind over the coming years. The report also explores the availability and use of data in safety net provider organizations, approaches to quality improvement in these organizations, and the extent to which safety net providers are interested and able to conduct research or evaluation projects.
The AcademyHealth Listening Project: Improving the Evidence Base for Medicaid Policymaking
This report provides an overview of the research and data gaps policymakers and analysts identify as key to informing Medicaid policy over the next three to five years and offers practical advice for researchers seeking to produce more policy relevant work.
The AcademyHealth Listening Project: Improving the Evidence Base for Medicare Policymaking
This report offers a snapshot of the research and data gaps policymakers and analysts cite as critical to informing Medicare policy over the next three to five years and offers practical advice for researchers seeking to produce more policy relevant work.
Evidence Roadmaps
Evdience Roadmaps provide policy analysts and other research users with guides to existing evidence on important policy topics. Each of the Institute's Roadmaps to date focuses on a research gap identified in the Medicare and Medicaid Listening Project reports.
The Listening Project is funded in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, and the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC).