cademyHealth is the professional home for health services researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners, and a leading, non-partisan resource for the best in health research and policy. The organization promotes interaction across the health research and policy arenas by bringing together a broad spectrum of players to share their perspectives, learn from each other, and strengthen their working relationships.

Our Mission

AcademyHealth meets its mission by engaging in five key areas: conferences, professional development, research support activities, knowledge transfer initiatives, and advocacy.

AcademyHealth supports the best 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 data resources and financial and human infrastructure.

AcademyHealth also facilitates the use of the best available health services research and health policy information by:

• Translating research findings and the lessons of experience into useful information for clinical, management, and policy decisions;
• Enhancing communication and interaction between health service researchers and health policymakers; and
• Identifying areas in which additional research is needed to better inform decisions.

Conferences

One of AcademyHealth’s core strengths is its ability to bring together health care leaders from the research, policy, and practice worlds, and to foster meaningful discussion and learning among them. AcademyHealth is the convener of the nation’s largest scientific conference showcasing health services research—the Annual Research Meeting. With the journal Health Affairs, AcademyHealth also co-sponsors the National Health Policy Conference, the premier forum for decision makers to review the nation’s health policy agenda for the year ahead. In addition to these large, national conferences, in 2003 AcademyHealth and the programs it houses hosted an array of meetings and workshops for researchers and policymakers, including:

• The 5th International Conference on the Scientific Basis of Health Services;
• Consumer-Driven Health Care: Evidence from the Field, cosponsored by the Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization program and The Commonwealth Fund;
• The State Coverage Initiatives program’s national meeting for state officials, Stretching Dollars and Building Partnerships;
• Health Policy and Politics: An Orientation to Decision Making in Washington; and
• Playing by New Rules: Privacy and Health Services Research.

Research Support Activities

A key part of AcademyHealth’s mission is to support the best health services research. The organization provides technical and financial assistance for health services research, policy analysis, and state investigations on the uninsured. AcademyHealth also keeps investigators abreast of the newest research techniques and policy developments through seminars, issue briefs, conferences, workshops, and online tools. Among AcademyHealth’s projects and programs that provided support to researchers this year are:

• The Robert Wood Johnson’ Foundation’s Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization program;
• The Health Services Research Projects in Progress database; and
• The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s User Liaison Program.

Professional Development

AcademyHealth is an important resource for professional development, continuing education, and career advancement in the fields of health services research and health policy. In 2003, it offered an array of seminars, Web-based career tools, and educational opportunities, including:

• An online career center;
• A fellowship for researchers to work with national data sets that is jointly sponsored by AcademyHealth and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics;
• Health Policy and Politics: An Orientation to Decision Making in Washington;
• Seminars in Health Services Research Methods, including full-day courses and online Cyber Seminars; and
• Playing by New Rules: Privacy and Health Services Research.

Knowledge Transfer Initiatives

AcademyHealth and it predecessor organizations have always been committed to bridging the research and policy worlds. But this goal has become more important than ever given the surge in initiatives around the world to assess how knowledge gained through research can be best transferred to those who make decisions about health care. Through a variety of initiatives, AcademyHealth facilitates collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, and synthesizes the latest research into formats that are understandable and useable for decision makers. AcademyHealth’s knowledge-transfer initiatives are undertaken through:

• Research syntheses of policy-relevant health services research findings;
• The Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization program;
• The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s User Liaison Program;
• The International Exchange for Health Services Research and Policy;
• An HSR Impact series produced through the Connecting the Dots program, which highlights examples of health services research that has been successfully translated into practice; and
• Health Policy and Politics: An Orientation to Decision Making in Washington.

Advocacy

As the advocacy arm of AcademyHealth, the Coalition for Health Services Research provides a unified voice for enhanced funding support for health services research. The Coalition advises federal agencies on appropriate funding and policies and mobilizes other advocates to support research to inform health policy and practice. This year, the Coalition worked diligently to prevent the Bush administration’s proposed FY 2004 federal budget cuts to the agencies that fund health services research. Thanks in part to the Coalition’s efforts, Congress is, at least, not planning to reduce the budget for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which will be set at $304 million—a $25 million improvement over the president’s proposed budget of $279 million.

The largest increase among the agencies that fund health services research will be seen by the research office at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Last year's budget provided CMS with only enough funds to conduct the Current Medicare Beneficiary Survey and meet their statutory obligations. If this year's conference recommendations are approved by the House and Senate, CMS's research and demonstration's budget would more than double, from $23 million to $67 million.