Health services research and public health research in Europe: stay married or file for divorce?

Abstract

Health services research (HSR) is ‘the multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies and personal behaviours affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care and ultimately our health and well-being’.1 HSR is ‘complementary to, and partly overlaps, with public health research, even if “health” itself is not always the topic of study or even among the set of variables taken into account’.2 A recent European Commission funded project ‘HSR Europe’ has contributed to the identification of research priorities in various targeted areas of HSR: (i) health-care systems; (ii) health-care organizations and service delivery; (iii) health technology assessment; and (iv) benchmarking and performance indicators. In addition, this project focuses on capacity building for HSR, the organization of the HSR community in Europe and the relationship between research and policy.3 The question of capacity building for HSR and the organization of the HSR community in Europe is also a topic of recurrent debate at annual meetings of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) section HSR. As European health services researchers, we observe our American counterparts with certain envy. The American Academy of Health is a large professional society for HSR and health policy analysts, with two official journals ( Health Affairs and Health Services Research ), an Annual Research Meeting hosting 2400 attendees, and an annual National Health Policy Conference (http://www.academyhealth.org). Within a few European countries, there are professional …