HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH：Past, Present, and Future-An International Collaborative Effort

Introduction

　The purposes of this paper are many-fold. First, it is an introduction to the National Center for Health Services Research, a unit within the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Secondly, the paper summarizes some of the key variables that have characterized medical care in Japan and the United States in recent years. The third purpose is to highlight potential areas for future collaborative health services research.