Subject Specialist:
Law, Political Science, International Affairs
814-863-1347
e-mail: hms2@psu.edu
Helen Sheehy
Title: Head Social Sciences Library
Subject Specialist:
Law, Political Science, International Affairs
814-863-1347
e-mail: hms2@psu.edu
Begin by gathering background information from a wide variety of books and encyclopedias. This allows you to paint the issues in broad strokes and to outline the areas you will want to explore in further depth through journal articles, primary resources (such as government documents), and policy papers.
LionSearch
Think of this as Google for the Penn State Libraries' resources. Use keywords to cross-search a wide selection of library databases and the Penn State Libraries' online catalog [The CAT] in one search. While LionSearch DOES NOT cross-search all Libraries' databases, it is a great place to start and you will find some good scholarly resources.
The CAT [Penn State Libraries' online catalog]
Use keywords, subject headings, authors, organization names, and personal names to identify books, government documents, and other sources related to your topic.
The following databases are available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account:
Encyclopedia of Health Services Research
A great place to get an overview of your topic. Be sure to look at the material cited by the articles and follow up on these resources. Click on the online content link in The CAT to access this encyclopedia
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Includes the Encyclopedia of Public Health
CQ Electronic Library
Includes several different databases that are helpful. Each can be searched separately using the links below:
CQ Researcher
Weekly magazine that explores in-depth a single "hot issue" currently being discussed in the news. Topics include social issues, politics, economics, the environment, education, science, and more. Each issue includes an essay outlining the issue, a pro-con feature, a chronology, and a bibliography. 1923 to the present.
CQ Weekly
A weekly news magazine reporting on the activities in the U.S. Congress including the status of bills, committee and floor activity, debates, roll-call votes, and congressional-executive branch relations.
CQ Almanac
An excellent database to begin tracking legislation as well as getting a broad overview of government actions on a topic.
National Journal
Full text of key magazines, newsletters, books, and directories from the National Journal Group. Focused on government, politics, and public policy.
The most effective way to search for newspaper articles is to search them separately from journal articles. Even though you can technically search them in LionSearch, linking is still problematic.
Access World News — a broad-based newspaper database with an easy-to-use interface. Has a great selection of Pennsylvania newspapers that can be easily searched separately.
LexisNexis Academic — the most commonly-used newspaper database with a wide range of national and international newspapers. It is not picked up in LionSearch
The easiest way to find the full text of a journal online is to use the E-Journals link from the Libraries' home page
In this case I would suggest HighwirePress since it has the most current issues and an easy search mechanism.
Hint: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) moved through the 111th Congress as H.R. 3590 and became Public Law 111-148.
CQ (Congressional Quarterly) Electronic Library [Penn State Libraries] — a suite of databases that help you identify and understand legislation and the voting patterns surrounding its passage. A great place to begin your research. CQ is widely recognized as an unbiased source of information about government and legislative activities.
CQ Almanac [Penn State Libraries] — one of the pieces of the CQ Library. Great historical record of legislation. Good summaries of major legislation, with outlines of major provisions in easily-understandable terms.
CQ Congress Collection [Penn State Libraries] — more in-depth information, including the ability to analyze voting patterns on particular pieces of legislation, how particular legislators vote in comparison to other members of the party, their delegation, etc.
Congressional [Proquest] [Penn State Libraries] — a "full service" federal bill tracking service that links to the full text of the bill, final law, hearings, and reports that come out of the legislative process. The best place to pull it all together.
CQ.com [Penn State Libraries] — another federal bill and budget tracking service. There are some unique features to the bill tracking in this service but there are not the links to full text that are available in Congressional. Its real strength is the budget tracking. If you are looking at current discussion of the budget and health care issues ... this is the place to go.
Congressional Budget Office — Special Collection on Health Care — The CBO does analysis of the budgetary impact of legislation including the impact of health care reform legislation. Below are some recent reports they have issued related to the Affordable Care Act and more recent proposals.
Selected CBO Publications Related to Health Care Legislation, 2009-2010 — as you read through this collection of publications make sure you know which bill they are reviewing. There were several competing plans being considered.
CBO's Analysis of the Major Health Care Legislation Enacted in March 2010 — including the ACA
H.R. 2, Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act — cost estimate for bill passed by House — not passed in Senate
Long-Term Analysis of a Budget Proposal by Chairman Ryan — the controversial budget plan that called for dramatic changes in Medicare and Medicaid.
The White House
Health Reform in Action — the White House website promoting the ACA (Affordable Care Act)
Council of Economic Advisors Report on health care reform analyzes the impact of reform over time on incomes.
U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Health Services Research and Public Health Information Programs — data sources related to access, quality, and cost provided by the Health Services Research Division of the National Library of Medicine.
Department of Health and Human Services
Agency for Health Care Research and Quality — the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the health services research arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), complementing the biomedical research mission of its sister agency, the National Institutes of Health. AHRQ is a home to research centers that specialize in major areas of health care research such as quality improvement and patient safety, outcomes and effectiveness of care, clinical practice and technology assessment, and health care organization and delivery systems
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Data and Statistics — HRSA provides data and statistics focused on the uninsured, underserved, and special needs populations and on HRSA programs, including primary care shortage areas, community health centers, and the National Health Service Corps.
Health Resources and Services Administration, Health Professions — HRSA Health Professions includes data related to grants and cooperative agreements related to improving the health workforce; current research, tracking tools, and trend analysis of the state of the current health workforce, as well as health professional shortage area data.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) — the agency charged with overseeing the effectiveness of government programs.
Many policy papers have been written on your topics by government agencies and interest groups. These reports can help you identify the major issues and players engaged in discussing your topic.
Note: [Penn State Libraries] indicates a Libraries' resource available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account.
CRS Reports [Penn State Libraries] — The Congressional Research Service (CRS), a branch of the Library of Congress, produces excellent reports on a wide of topics including health care policy. The reports are designed for policymakers who are working on legislation or study public policy issues.
PolicyFile [Penn State Libraries] — Reports from public policy think tanks, university research programs, research organizations, and publishers. Many of these organizations are the major "players" in health policy debates.
RAND Health — RAND research reports are generally accepted as nonpartisan reports published on a wide variety of issues. They have a series of reports related to health care issues that can be useful. These are not covered in PolicyFile.
DIRLINE — directory of organizations interested in health care issues — with links to their web sites.
Associations Unlimited [Penn State Libraries] — basic information on a wide range of organizations.
Yearbook of International Organizations [Penn State Libraries]
Open Secrets — track money from interest groups in the political process.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Links to various data sources including accessibility of care, healthcare disparities, healthcare quality, healthcare spending, healthcare use, hospitalizations, and data by state and payer type.
America’s Health Insurance Plans Center for Policy and Research
Strategic thinking branch of America’s Health Insurance Plans with mission to advance ideas, research, and policy solutions to help Americans build a 21st Century health system through research on interrelated issues of health care quality, cost and access, and insurance markets.
American Hospital Association (AHA)
Research and Trends
Provides up-to-date information on both health and hospital trends with data from various sources including the AHA Annual Survey, made available through their TrendWatch chart book.
Quality and Patient Safety
Features tools, articles and other resources to suppose hospitals to achieve better patient outcomes, enhanced safety, increased satisfaction, and improved operational and financial performance.
AHA Search Engine
Search tool provided by the American Hospital Association with hospital information organized by specific areas of interest.
American Nursing Association, The National Database
The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI), a repository for nursing-sensitive indicators, is a program of NCNQ [National Cenger for Nursing Quality]. NDNQI is the only database containing data collected at the nursing unit level.
County Health Rankings
An interactive site that allows comparison of health outcome and health factor rankings by county and state for all counties in the United States.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
A wide variety of data related to the health status of Americans, designed to monitor trends in health status and delivery of Americans to guide policy making and implementation.
Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services [CMS]
CMS Research, Statistic, Data and Systems
Official site of Medicare/Medicaid (and SCHIP) including data on provider type, regulations and guidance, research and statistics, outreach and education programs.
Quality Initiatives
For Home Health, Hospital, Nursing Home, and End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)
Center for Studying Health System Change, HSC Data
Interactive system that allows user to obtain results for a variety of topics from the CTS and Health Tracking Household and Physician Surveys.
Family Voices
Data and research related to children’s health and healthcare issues. Family-to-Family Health Information Centers help families of children and youth with special health care needs and the professionals who serve them.
Medical Group Management Association
Benchmarking tools used to measure medical practice and comparing it to similar organizations (a tool to identify problems and opportunities for improvement).
National Committee for Quality Assurance
The Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) is a tool used by more than 90 percent of America's health plans to measure performance on important dimensions of care and service.
National Quality Forum
Performance guidelines and assessment tools used by hospitals, healthcare systems, and government agencies (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) for public reporting of performance and quality improvement research, healthcare processes, outcomes, patient perceptions, and organizational structures/systems associated with the provision of high-quality healthcare.
Pennsylvania Department of Health, Health Statistics and Research
Health statistics for PA residents on vital health statistics, chronic, behavioral, and communicable diseases, health facilities, minority health, community health assessment data and links to other state and federal agencies reporting similar data.
Press Ganey, Research and Analysis
Health care consulting company with research tools on Emergency Department resources, Pulse Reports, ROI Resources, and white papers.
The Commonwealth Fund, A Private Foundation Working Toward a High Performance Health System
Links to Commonwealth Fund charts (ChartCart), International Health Policy Center, Performance Snapshots, State Date Center, and Child Health System Performance for comparing and tracking health performance.
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council
An independent state agency responsible for addressing the problem of escalating health costs and increasing access for all citizens regardless of ability to pay, links to past and current hospital performance reports and quality measurements for Pennsylvania facilities.
The Joint Commission
Provides data on a variety of measures from over 3,000 Joint Commission accredited hospitals and provides a broad picture of quality and safety performance.
LionSearch will cross-search many of the lLbraries' journal databases and should have retrieved a significant number of journal articles. However, you may want to explore subject specific databases in depth for more detailed information. Some of the most important databases:
Pubmed — the primary database in the health care field
CINAHL — an index to nursing and allied health care literature.
EconLit — looks at the economic impact of health care costs
ABI/Inform — a business database that will look at the business aspects of the healthcare industry
Web of Science — in addition to having a core set of high quality journals in the major academic disciplines. Web of Science is unique in that it allows you to to do cited reference searching — to find articles that cite an article that you have already located on a topic.
