Responding To Health Needs And Scientific Opportunity

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the single largest funder of health research in the United States, and research it has supported has been pivotal to the explosion of biomedical knowledge over the past century. As NIH's success has grown, so has pressure from advocacy groups and other members of the public to devote more spending to their health concerns. In response to a request from Congress, this IOM study reviewed NIH's research priority-setting process and made recommendations for possible improvement. The committee considered the: Factors and criteria used by NIH to make funding allocations. Process by which the funding decisions are made. Mechanisms for public input. Impact of congressional statutory directives on funding decisions. Among other recommendations, the book recommends that NIH seek broader public input on decisions about how to spend its nearly $14 billion budget; it also urged the agency to create new Offices of Public Liaison in the Office of the Director and in each of the 21 research institutes to allow interested people to formally take part in the process.

The adoption of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) 2010 was a turning point in the history of behavioral health for children and adolescents in the United States. The ACA requires most health insurance plans to conduct behavioral health assessments for children, as well as depression screening for adults. Looking ahead, however, questions have been raised about how to promote children's behavioral health, how to make use of innovations, and how to sustain funding over time. To respond to these questions, the Forum on Promoting Children's Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in Washington, D.C., on April 1-2, 2015. The workshop focused on how recent reforms in health care provide new opportunities to promote children's cognitive, affective, and behavioral health. It also assessed behavioral health needs of all children, including those with special physical or behavioral health conditions, and programs that support families.This report summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.