[Tasks and development of health services research. A comparison between the USA, UK, Australia and Germany]

Given the fact that health services research has become increasingly popular in Germany during the last 5 years this article focuses on the status quo of this research field in a multinational comparison. An overview of the health services research situation in the USA, UK, Australia and Germany is given by considering development status, definition and future challenges. This overview shows that health services research is by now regarded as an essential field in these countries. Despite clear distinctions in research tradition and research infrastructure there are cross-national themes and challenges regarding research questions and organisation of research. The common challenges of the future are probably the enhancement of research capacities, the further development of adequate research methods and the question of translating research results into practice. All countries concur that the cooperation between stakeholders of the health services research field needs to be strengthened.