Examining the use of health systems and policy research in the health policymaking process in Israel: views of researchers.

Moriah E Ellen,Joshua Shemer,John N Lavis

doi:10.1186/s12961-016-0139-7

Abstract

BackgroundAll too often, health policy and management decisions are made without making use of or consulting with the best available research evidence, which can lead to ineffective and inefficient health systems. One of the main actors that can ensure the use of evidence to inform policymaking is researchers. The objective of this study is to explore Israeli health systems and policy researchers’ views and perceptions regarding the role of health systems and policy research (HSPR) in health policymaking and the barriers and facilitators to the use of evidence in the policymaking process.MethodsA survey of researchers who have conducted HSPR in Israel was developed. The survey consisted of a demographics section and closed questions, which focused on support both within the researchers’ organisations and the broader environment for KTE activities, perceptions on the policymaking process, and the potential influencing factors on the process. The survey was sent to all health systems and policy researchers in Israel from academic institutions, hospital settings, government agencies, the four health insurance funds, and research institutes (n = 107). All responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. For close-ended questions about level of agreement we combined together the two highest categories (agree or strongly agree) for analysis.ResultsThirty-seven respondents participated in the survey. While many respondents felt that the use of HSPR may help raise awareness on policy issues, the majority of respondents felt that the actual use of HSPR was hindered for many reasons. While facilitators do exist to support the use of research evidence in policymaking, numerous barriers hinder the process such as challenges in government/provider relations, policymakers lacking the expertise for acquiring, assessing, and applying HSPR and priorities in the health system drawing attention away from HSPR. Furthermore, it is perceived by a majority of respondents that the health insurance funds and the physician organisations exert a strong influence in the policymaking process.ConclusionsHealth system and policy researchers in Israel need to be introduced to the benefits and potential advantages of evidence-informed policy in an organised and systematic way. Future research should examine the perceptions of policymakers in Israel and thus we can gain a broader perspective on where the actual issues lie.

Highlights

All too often, health policy and management decisions are made without making use of or consulting with the best available research evidence, which can lead to ineffective and inefficient health systems
Overall, 107 health system and policy researchers were invited to participate in the survey: 37 responded, for a response rate of 35%
Perceptions of the role of HSPR in influencing the health policymaking process While 54% of health systems and policy researchers in Israel perceive that evidence from health systems and policy research does help health policymakers and stakeholders to identify and/or choose policy alternatives, the majority of respondents felt that the actual use of evidence from health systems and policy research was hindered for various reasons, i.e. practical constraints (68%) and lack of coordination between policymakers and researchers (59 %) (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Health policy and management decisions are made without making use of or consulting with the best available research evidence, which can lead to ineffective and inefficient health systems. Numerous KTE frameworks and approaches have been proposed; a comprehensive framework still does not exist to assist in better understanding the influences on evidence-informed decision- and policymaking [4, 9,10,11] It is apparent, from the frameworks and research, that the local climate and context, poor relationships between knowledge producers and users, and the perceptions of the knowledge producers regarding the roles they need to play in order to transfer the knowledge, can act as barriers to the KTE process [12,13,14,15]. The objective of this study is to explore Israeli health systems and policy researchers’ views and perceptions regarding the role of health systems and policy research in health policymaking and the barriers and facilitators to the use of evidence in the policymaking process

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion