The United States is on the brink of significant structural reform of the organization, financing and delivery of health services. Policymakers, managers, clinicians and payers will rely on the results of health services research to develop, implement, evaluate and refine these reforms as well as to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the day-to-day delivery of health services. This proposal seeks five-year funding from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) to provide partial support for planning and conducting the annual national scientific meetings of the Foundation for Health Services Research (FHSR). The long term goals for the scientific meetings are: (a) to disseminate the latest health services research findings to both """"""""users"""""""" and researchers, and (b) to promote the career development of those in the field of health services research. The specific goals for the meetings are to: (a) improve communication among researchers and between researchers and users of research; (b) highlight the importance of health services for policymakers, managers, clinicians and consumers of health care; (c) improve the methodological skills of researchers, decisionmakers, managers, clinicians and other users of health services research; and (d) provide a forum for participants to exchange information and to examine, research, policy, management and practice issues critically. These meetings are two-and-a-half days long and are held in a different city each year in June. Speakers and participants include distinguished leaders from health services research, health policy, health management and clinical practice, as well as those early in their careers. No other national forum provides the full range of professional and scientific activities for health services research as this meeting.
