According to the Institute of Medicine, health services research (HSR) is "a multidisciplinary field of inquiry, both basic and applied, that examines the use, costs, quality, accessibility, delivery, organization, financing, and outcomes of health care services." The health care
system is undergoing dramatic changes and many public and private
health care organizations have need for health services research. Most
of the demand is at the state or local levels and comes from both the
public and private sectors of the health care community.

Links

Academic Sites

• Health Services Research Unit at the UConn Health Center - Matt's principal place of employment is within the Health Services Research Unit in the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.
• Centre for Health Services & Policy Research - The Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) is located within
  the Office of the Coordinator of Health Sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. 
• Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research - UPenn's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research is an 
  interdisciplinary research and research training enterprise 
  focusing on health service outcomes research and health workforce policy studies in the U.S. and abroad. 
• Institute for Health Services Research and Policy Studies - Northwestern's University-wide research center with offices
  on the Chicago and Evanston campuses.

 Federal Sites

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) - part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, AHRQ's goal is to support quality researcher for quality health care.

• Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) - the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) is the federal agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

• National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR) - part of the National Library of Medicine's web site and includes links of interests and a HSR search tool.

Books - Available from Amazon.com

Here is a listing of a few of the books available on the subject of health services research.

• Health Services Research Methods by Leiyu Shi
  

• Research for the Health Professional by Diana M. Bailey
  

• Evaluating the Healthcare System : Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity by Lu Ann Aday
  

• Health Services Research: Key to Health Policy by Eli Ginzberg
  

• Research in Health Care: Design, Conduct, and Interpretation of Health Services Research by I. K. Crombie and H. T. O. Davies

More books...