[4][5] AcademyHealth was established in June 2000, following a merger between the Alpha Center and the Association for Health Services Research; the two organizations had been operating under a joint operation agreement since January 1999[6] Founded in March 1976 and based in Washington, D.C., the Alpha Center functioned as a health policy resource center, "assist[ing] public and private sector leaders in meeting health care challenges by providing research analysis, facilitation, education and training, strategic planning, and program management".
The program has used meetings and conferences, newsletters, briefs, special papers, as well as peer-reviewed journal articles to facilitate the dissemination of its findings to policymakers.
[14] HSRProj is a free database containing more than 6,000 descriptions of ongoing health services research projects funded by government and state agencies, foundations, and private organizations.
Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,[19] and administered by AcademyHealth, SCI works with state policy leaders to develop strategies to improve insurance coverage.
[23] Once an intimate conference with only 300 attendees, the ARM has grown to host over 2,200 participants,[24] and rotates between Washington, DC, Boston, Orlando, San Diego, Seattle, and Chicago.
[26] Past speakers have included advisers to presidential candidates Senators Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.), and John McCain (R-Ariz.) House Democratic Leadership;[27] AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy, MD; Engelberg Center Director Mark McClellan, MD, PhD; Congressional Budget Office Peter Orszag; and Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis.
[28] A joint strategic initiative between AcademyHealth and The Commonwealth Fund, Building Bridges provides an opportunity for long-term care stakeholders to exchange information, debate the issues, seek solutions, and identify where additional research is needed.
The initiative seeks to foster development of a network of long-term care researchers, policy leaders, providers, consumer representatives, and funders through a series of annual colloquia and ongoing workgroup discussions among conference participants and others.