The Health Services Research Labor Force in the United States

In 1978, the Panel on Health Services Research Training of the Committee on a Study of National Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel surveyed former health services research trainees and principal investigators to get information about the supply, employment, research, and teaching activities of people in these two groups. The survey shows that federal support for the training of health services research personnel has generated a cadre of investigators who remain active in health services research. Former trainees represent a cohort of largely younger investigators who are doing research of a type once done by older principal investigators who today engage in more administration and do less research. Most health services researchers are employed in academic settings and do research in their field.