Program planning in the Office of Technology Assessment's Health Program

This paper describes the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment's Health Program and the role that its process of program planning has played in the selection of studies and the allocation of Program resources. It discusses the primary areas in which studies have been conducted--assessment methods, specific technologies, environmental health, information technologies, and financing/structural aspects of health care--and examines the changes in relative emphasis placed on the areas over time and the factors that lead to changed emphasis. Internal factors--e.g., judgments of whether a topic is of national importance, fiscal and staff resources available, and whether the issue is appropriate for OTA--and thus program planning have played their strongest role in the areas of assessment methods and of specific technologies. Activities in the financing/structural areas and some types of studies in the environmental health areas are being driven more by external factors--e.g., expressed needs of Congress, availability of data, and developments in science and technology.