Health Services Research (HSR), as opposed to Outcomes Research, is the study of structure, process, and outcomes of healthcare. According to this model, the structure of healthcare (e.g. buildings, staffing ratios, equipment) affects the process of healthcare (e.g. provider decision-making, physician-patient relationship, etc.), and the process of healthcare in turn affects the outcomes of healthcare. Members of the Center are trained in this model of Health Services Research, and are driven to find links between structure and process that maximize patient outcomes.

As part of our mission, we are dedicated to teaching the principles of HSR to audiences with an interest in furthering their knowledge about this evolving field. We have carefully developed a curriculum that covers a wide range of HSR topics, including health economic analysis, health related quality of life, systematic review, meta-analysis, guideline development, appropriateness, process of care, and survey design, among other topics. This curriculum is flexible, and can be tailored to the individual goals and objectives of different audiences.

Our curriculum is well suited for audiences interested in learning answers to the following questions (among others):

• How do I interpret a cost-effectiveness analysis?
• What is the difference between a cost-effectiveness analysis, a cost-utility analysis, a cost-minimization analysis, a cost-benefit analysis, and a budget impact model?
• What is health related quality of life, and how is it measured?
• How do I interpret studies that employ quality of life as an endpoint?
• What is the difference between a “clinically significant” and “statistically significant” difference in a clinical trial, and how can “clinically significant” be quantified?
• What is the difference between a systematic review and a meta-analysis, and how do I interpret the results of these studies?
• How can I tell if a randomized controlled study is high quality or not?
• What is the RAND Methodology for expert panels, and how does this help in designing clinical guidelines?