President
Dr Tit Albreht
Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia
Trubarjeva 2
SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
Phone: +386 1 244 14 20
Telefax: +386 1 244 14 47
Mobile: + 386 51 342 954
Email: tit.albreht@Ivz-rs.si

The EUPHA section on health services research currently has 594 members. The section is representing EUPHA in the broad public consultation launched by the European Commission, which aims to provide greater legal certainty regarding cross-border healthcare under Community Law, and to support cooperation between health services in member states.
The section Health Services Research aims to serve as a network of researchers that are involved in the various aspects of this discipline. The workshop of the section at the annual EUPHA conferences provides a meeting place for members and other researchers and policy makers that bear an interest in health services research. To that end, the section organises workshops at the annual EUPHA conferences. The past workshops are described below.

Activities

Workshop 2001		Integrated care in an international perspective
Workshop 2002		“Population health” in Bismarck systems: how to shift the focus from a healthy workforce to a healthy population
Workshop 2003		In search of the best innovations: comparative methods in health services research
Workshop 2004		The development of integrated care under different financing an payment systems
Workshop 2005		Transition countries’ way into a reformed health care
Workshop 2006		Methods of evaluation, elements of input and policy support

Background information

The (new) definition of health services research used by the American Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy is: “Health services research is the multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviors affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, and ultimately our health and well-being. Its research domains are individuals, families, organizations, institutions, communities, and populations.” (Lohr and Steinwachs, 2002) From this definition, it is clear that health services research covers a very broad domain, ranging e.g. from international comparisons of payment systems to studies of individuals’ help-seeking behaviour, and from quality of care research to economic evaluations.