How can health services research impact health care policy?
Health services research can play five critical roles in formulating and implementing effective public policy. These include documentation, analysis, prescription, assessment and education. Documentation includes gathering, cataloging and correlating facts that depict the state of affairs that policy makers hope to change, illustrating problems not known to exist or emphasizing the severity of important concerns not fully appreciated. Analysis entails examining various options for dealing with the concerns that have been documented, and demonstrating or suggesting which options are viable and which are not, and why. Prescription involves formulating specific models or plans that may be adopted by policy makers and planners providing realistic, low risk options that are based upon tested experience and expert judgment. Assessment is based on the quantitative evaluation of the success or failure of policy intervention in accomplishing the objectives for which it was designed, identifying
