Ten health policy challenges for the next 10 years

Area of Science:

• Health policy research
• Health services research
• Public health

Background:

• Health policies and research are rapidly evolving.
• Emerging topics include payment models, pandemics, health inequities, climate change, and new technologies like AI and whole-genome sequencing.
• There is a growing need for future-thinking research to inform policymakers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe ten key health policy challenges for the next decade.
• To outline steps for addressing these challenges.
• To bridge the gap between scientific research and policy implementation.

Main Methods:

• The editorial team of *Health Affairs Scholar* identified ten critical health policy challenges.
• The paper synthesizes traditional health services research areas (cost, access, quality) with emerging interdisciplinary topics.
• Focus areas include equity, income, justice, technology, pharmaceuticals, markets, innovation, population health, and global health.

Main Results:

• Ten major health policy challenges for the next 10 years have been identified.
• Each challenge is accompanied by proposed actionable steps for addressing it.
• The research emphasizes the intersection of traditional health services research with emerging societal and technological trends.

Conclusions:

• Addressing complex health policy challenges requires forward-thinking, interdisciplinary research.
• Translating scientific evidence into actionable policy is essential for improving population health.
• The identified challenges and proposed solutions aim to guide future research and policy development in health.