AcademyHealth, with support from Kaiser Permanente, is pleased to announce Health Policy in Action!, an annual year-long study program for federal health policy professionals. As a participant, you will learn about current health policy priorities through site-visits to leading health care organizations outside of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. This opportunity to better understand the impact of national health policy on state, local, and community organizations providing health care services will broaden your “real-world” perspective and inform your decision-making. The lessons learned through your experience will also broaden your employer's knowledge base—be it an agency, a congressional committee, or a Member of Congress—and help you better support your employer's core functions and mission.

For example,

•  As a staff member of the Senate Finance Committee, you could learn more about emergent promising practices for improving patient safety in the hospital setting by visiting several nationally respected healthcare systems whose quality improvement efforts and safety cultures have spurned reductions in healthcare acquired infection rates and medical errors;

•  As a senior executive from CMS, you could visit several Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) to observe health information exchange in practice by learning about the challenges, barriers, and possible outcomes of sharing data at the provider level; or

•  As a health legislative assistant for a Louisiana Congressional member, you could undertake a study tour of public hospitals, private hospital groups, and community health clinics in the Delta region to assess strategies for maintaining continuity of care in the wake of disasters.

About AcademyHealth
AcademyHealth is the nonprofit, non-partisan, professional society for health services researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners, and a leading resource for the best in health services research and health policy. AcademyHealth promotes the use of objective research and analysis to inform health policy and practice.

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is the largest nonprofit health plan in the United States, serving 8.4 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. As an integrated health delivery system, Kaiser Permanente provides and coordinates the entire scope of care for members and strives to improve the health of the community.