• PAIS - Most useful for international health care policy or health care in individual countries. Abstracts only from 1937+
• PolicyFile - public policy topics, linking to reports and papers from think tanks, NGOs, and research organizations, 1990 to present. Watch for bias!
• Sociological Abstracts - articles on all aspects of sociology; selected full text from 1963+.
• CQ Almanac, CQ Researcher, and CQ Weekly for the status of legislation

• Academic Search Premier and Expanded Academic ASAP - great starting points for scholarly & popular articles in every discipline; mostly full text from 1980+

Other databases may be useful for you, depending on your specific topic and approach. See our A-Z list for a complete list of databases or AskUs and get some customized suggestions.

NOTE: Using a search engine to search for material is very tempting but is to be used with caution. You will find a lot of information on social issues but many are advocating a particular point of view which must be recognized in order to write a scholarly paper. Use the following criteria to evaluate any websites:

• Who is the author of the information?
• Can you find information about the author? What are his/her credentials?
• How current is the information? Is there a "last updated" date?
• Who is the intended audience for the information?
• Is the content objective or is it coming from a certain viewpoint?
• Is the information advocating a cause?

For more information on how to evaluate web pages see our search the web page.

• American Association of Medical Colleges - note link to issues on the left bar
• American Association of Health Plans
• American Public Human Services Association - Founded in 1930, "the mission of APHSA is to develop, promote, and implement public human service policies that improve the health and well-being of families, children, and adults".
• Health Policy Links, and health policy summaries, from Moving Ideas: Electronic Policy Network.
• Health Issues, from the National Center for Policy Analysis.
• "The High Price of Health", a PBS Frontline Special, a close examination of the effects of managed healthcare on physicians, nurses, and patients, primarily in the United States. 
• Issue Briefs from the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Kaiser Family Foundation - "non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the nation".
• WebEc's Health and Welfare

Health Care from U.S. Government Sources

• Selected Web pages from the U.S. Federal Government:
  • Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Includes clinical information, research findings, quality assessment, and data/surveys as well as consumer/patient information. Also spotlights: Child Health, Women's Health, and Minority Health.
  • Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) - collects and analyzes data, estimates costs, and assesses policies related to mental health services within managed care.
  • Healthcare Systems Bureau from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
  • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (HCFA) includes federal health care regulations and topics related to fraud, waste, and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
  • Medicare. Includes tools for comparing different Medicare-managed health plans (from HMO's) and private Fee-for-Service plans and for comparing nursing homes.
  • Medicaid
  • Planning and Evaluation, with the Dept. of Health and Human Services, is responsible for issues around policy coordination, strategic planning, policy research and development, and economic analysis.
  • SAMHSA Behavioral Health Headlines Database - a current awareness tool which abstracts articles related to public sector health and behavioral health services from over 150 national, state, and local newspapers, trade newsletters, professional journals, national and state reports, and SAMHSA Tracking staff interviews with key informants.
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

• Presidential Initiatives:
  • National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare created by Congress in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and charged with examining the Medicare program and making recommendations to strengthen and improve it.
  • President's Advisory Commission... Quality in the Health Care Industry (1998)
  • President Bush's Medicare Policy

• State-level Organizations:
  • Forum for State Health Policy Leadership from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
  • National Academy for State Health Policy focuses on healthcare access for uninsured in our population; long-term, chronic, and managed care; ways to purchase insurance cost-effectively in the marketplace.
  • U.S. state health care agencies

• Local Organization:
  • National Association of County and City Health Officials represents more than 3000 local departments of health in the United States.

Resources on Health Care in Other Countries

Health, Nutrition, and Population [World Bank]. Wonderful links to health care and health reform in other countries.

International Health Policy from the Commonwealth Fund, "a private foundation that supports independent research on health and social issues and makes grants to improve health care practice and policy". The site contains full text of reports and articles on topics such as child health and development, managed care, health care quality, etc.

Pan American Health Organization - Full text of reports on various health topics. Includes the full text of the Epidemiological Bulletin from 1995+ and the Pan American Journal of Public Health.. Data include Country health profiles and basic health indicators.

The World Health Report [World Health Organization]. 1995+. Clapp Docs RA 8 A265 and online from 1995+.

The World Health Organization - note especially the links to countries and topics.

Statistics Sources: