As the manager of major programs serving the health services research and policy communities, AcademyHealth is a key authority in several substantive areas, including health care financing and organization, purchasing, translating health services research, and rural, state, and international health policy.

AcademyHealth houses three programs funded by The Commonwealth Fund:

The Commission on a High Performance Health System aims to move the United States toward a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, focusing on the most vulnerable populations. The Commission is charged with tracking performance targets, developing policy options, and disseminating innovative practice changes to improve the U.S. health system.

The Program on Medicare's Future aims to enhance Medicare's capacity to be an innovative leader in coverage, quality improvement, and value by evaluating policy options and practices for achieving better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency for Medicare beneficiaries–particularly the most vulnerable ones–and for the health care system overall.

The State Quality Improvement Institute is an intensive, competitively-selected effort to help states plan and implement concrete action plans to improve performance across targeted quality indicators. Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington were selected for the Institute through a competitive process designed to identify states with the commitment, leadership, and resources necessary to build on previous success and conceptualize and implement substantive new quality improvement efforts.

AcademyHealth houses two programs funded through The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization strives to bridge the health services research and health policy communities and to provide public and private decision makers with usable information on health care policy, financing, and organization.

State Coverage Initiatives helps states improve the availability and affordability of public and private health insurance coverage for low-income Americans and their families.

Under contract to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) Knowledge Transfer Program, AcademyHealth works with health care providers, purchasers, health plans, and state and local government leaders to help them understand and apply health services research findings in their decision-making.

AcademyHealth fosters an international exchange of ideas and resources through its International Exchange for Health Care Policy and Research.

AcademyHealth is committed to learning why few minorities are entering the field of health services research through its W.K. Kellogg Foundation Diversity in Health Services Research project.

From 1999-2003, AcademyHealth has housed The National Health Care Purchasing Institute (NHCPI), an initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. NHCPI was founded to improve health care quality by advancing the purchasing practices of major corporations, government agencies, and public employers.