A Timely Partnership: Sociology and Health Services Research

Abstract

health care needs of communities and the investigation of the structure, process, and effects of health care services. HSR's earliest works were descriptive surveys of disease, facilities, and medical personnel designed to document variations in access to, organization of, and processes of medical care (Committee on the Cost of Medical Care 1932; Codman 1914; Densen et al. 1959). By mid-century, efforts by the public and private sectors were mobilized to systematically study problems in the organization of medical care.2 Increased federal financing of health services and institutions, coupled with growing technological advancements, intensified efforts to document and evaluate the effects of this restructuring (Institute of Medicine 1994; Field, Tranquada, and Feasley 1995; Field and Lohr 1995; Gray 1992; DeFriese, Ricketts, and Stein 1989). The significance of these changes for the health care environment did not go unnoticed by scholars in many disciplines, most notably economics, political science, epidemiology, public health, and to some extent sociology. However, not until the 1950s did scholars' efforts to transcend disciplinary boundaries coalesce into a new line of inquiry called health services research. The father of this field, Kerr L. White, envisioned a field bridging the gap between medicine and public health (Ballard 1997; Brook 1997; Brennan and Berwick 1996; White 1947, 1995). White's broad approach focused on questions relevant to sociologists: adequacy of communication between patients and physicians; patterns of patient referral; quality and costs of care; and the