Areas eligible for support

In accordance with the areas demarcated by the German Medical Association*, the following are classified unreservedly as health services research:

Basic research in care-related areas (e.g. cognitive and communicative processes, compliance, physicians' attitudes, determinants of medical decision-making)
Quality research (e.g. quality assurance/development/management) relating to care services
Studies of economic aspects of care
Utilization research, demand research, other studies on the epidemiology of healthcare
Methodological developments in health services research (e.g. risk adjustment, multivariate models, survey instruments)
Clinical studies, meta-analyses and systematic reviews of effectiveness
Health technology assessments (HTAs) concerned with effectiveness or utility
Studies of drugs and medical devices under everyday conditions (Phase IV studies)
Studies of the implementation of new findings of basic research in medical practice (e.g. in the areas of translational research or personalized medicine)
Development and application of new information technologies (e.g. e-health)

Areas not classified as health services research include:

HTAs, meta-analyses and systematic reviews concerned solely with efficacy
Clinical studies of efficacy (i.e. conducted under ideal conditions)
Phase I–III drug studies Studies investigating not explicitly health-related service providers
Analytical epidemiology for the determination of causes and risks, not relating to specific forms of care.
Cell culture and animal experiments

*Adapted from (Access 28.11.11)
www.bundesaerztekammer.de/page.asp?his=0.6.3289.3293.3295&all=true