he Fund's International Program in Health Policy and Practice is dedicated to building an international network of policy-oriented health care researchers and encouraging cross-national comparisons of health care systems' performance and policy approaches. As part of that work, the program conducts high-level policy forums for international exchange, which foster creative thinking about health care problems common to the U.S. and other industrialized countries and highlight innovative policy solutions.
The International Program in Health Policy and Practice (IHP), directed since 1997 by Fund vice president Robin Osborn, had its six-year review by the Commonwealth Fund Board of Directors in April 2004. As part of the review, Harvard University's David Blumenthal, M.D., conducted an independent evaluation, for which he surveyed 128 key informants, Harkness Fellows, and mentors.
The survey respondents were nearly unanimous in their endorsement of IHP and their agreement that the Fund should continue sponsoring an international program. Ninety-three percent of respondents agreed that IHP is making progress in developing a network of health policy and health services researchers. Nearly all respondents rated IHP as very or moderately effective in promoting high-level exchanges between industrialized countries, and nine of 10 respondents felt that the program was enhancing the Fund's ability to inform the U.S. policy debate and expanding the audience for all of the Fund's work. In addition, more than four of five found the products produced by IHP to be useful in their work and agreed that the program enabled the Fund to draw on other countries' innovations in developing its U.S. programs. Key program components of IHP were all rated very highly, with the Harkness Fellowships receiving the strongest endorsement of all program activities. While the policy issues addressed by the program over the first six years received broad support, there were suggestions for further emphasis, including quality improvement initiatives, information technology, and innovative health care delivery models.
In their discussions regarding the review, Board members expressed support for expansion of the group of five countries on which IHP activities are focused, citing Germany and other European countries as the priority. The review also called for efforts to increase IHP's impact on U.S. policy thinking, as well as the program's profile in Washington, D.C.
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