Health Services Research (HSR)

The Health Services Research Initiative, established in FY 2019, provides intramural and extramural HSR in topic areas directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (OASD (HA)). The intent of this initiative is to foster HSR capability within the Military Health System (MHS) by fostering research that supports the transition to an integrated health system focused on the quadruple aim – improved health readiness, better health, better care, and lower cost.

HSR 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 health and well-being (Academy Health, 2000). This research integrates epidemiologic, sociologic, economic and other analytic sciences to understand the relationships between need, demand, supply, use, and outcomes of health care.

The goal of HSR is to identify the factors which influence the delivery of care. Knowledge obtained from HSR supports evidence-based policy and leadership decision-making at both the strategic and front-line levels. As part of the organization construct, HSR results in a learning organization with the goal to decrease system variation in terms of cost, quality, outcome, and health readiness. This Funding Opportunity seeks rigorous HSR that supports and builds capability for the evolution of the MHS through collaboration and innovation.

Research funded through this Funding Opportunity is intended to benefit and inform military health care delivery with potential implications for civilian health care. The mission of the HSR is to enhance data-driven evidence that optimizes the MHS delivery of health care and improvement of beneficiary health. This announcement is intended to solicit both intramural and extramural health services research aligned with DHA priority research areas that support the MHS.