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Introduction to Health Services Research : A Self-Study Course
Module 3: Selected Players (Federal and Private) (Page 14 of 27)
Commonwealth Fund
The Commonwealth Fund (http://www.cmwf.org/) is a philanthropic foundation established in 1918 by Anna M. Harkness with the broad charge to enhance the common good. The Fund carries out this mandate through its efforts to help Americans live healthy and productive lives and to assist specific groups with serious and neglected problems.
The Fund's current program areas are:
Other interest areas include:
International Program in Health Policy and Practice
The Fund's International Program in Health Policy and Practice seeks to build a network of policy-oriented health care researchers whose multinational experience and outlook stimulate innovative policies and practices in the United States and other industrialized countries.
In its own community, New York City, the Fund makes grants toward improving public spaces and services and for improving health in the city.
Publications
The Commonwealth Fund publishes more than 100 publications a year, all free and most listed in PubMed. It also produces The Commonwealth Fund Connection (formerly Quarterly), a roundup of Fund and Fund-supported publications.
Notification Services
Sign up to receive e-mail alerts about one or more of the Fund's program areas. You also may sign up to receive the Fund's Annual Report, Quarterly, or Washington Health Policy Week in Review.
Discussion Questions
- The Commonwealth Fund site is worth visiting for the free publications that touch on topics that librarians and researchers have a strong interest in. Find two publications on this site that you wish you had known about for a project that you were recently involved with or are becoming involved in.
- How much of what the Commonwealth Fund is involved in is concerned with policy issues? How about quality of care?
- How do you remember to visit NGOs (non-governmental organizations), associations and foundations when you do your searches/research? Is examining these sites for content worth your time? Why or why not?
- Why is it important to keep revisiting sites like this one? Do their interests change over time? Does the funding change? What else changes on the site?
- Why has Health IT become so important? Find examples of important IT topics that might be of interest to health services researchers and health administrators.
- What about data and surveys? Can you find data on a topic of interest easily? How is the aggregated data made available? Is this format useful to you or your researchers? Is raw data available for researchers on the site?
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