About The Forum

The National Health Policy Forum was created in 1971 at the request of senior-level congressional staff and executive agency decision makers concentrating on health issues. At the time, this was a relatively small group and they were seeking opportunities to learn from each other and from experts in the field, in an "off-the-record" setting. They also wanted opportunities to help inform other legislative analysts who handled health matters along with many other issues.

Initially named the "Health Staff Seminar," the organization established its institutional home at the George Washington University to distinguish itself as an educational, professional development entity. Drawing on her experience as a Senate legislative aide and at IBM with customer user groups, Founding Director Judith Miller Jones engaged early participants to form a Steering Committee. This group helped develop three operating principles: remain nonpartisan, never advocate policy positions, and maintain an off-the-record setting. These operating principles remain in place today.

In the early days, the Forum's offerings were limited to evening meetings and topical discussions around general matters of access, quality and costs. Speakers often came from the academic world, with some participation from those in the business or health care provider communities. The Steering Committee met during the work day, sometimes over home-made fried chicken on the Capitol lawn.

Over the years, the Forum's activities have grown in number and complexity and have become a part of day-to-day policymaking. While matters of health care access, quality, and costs remain core concerns, today's Forum sessions also focus on issues that have become increasingly complex and contentious. Great care is taken to incorporate a range of viewpoints and speakers are often chosen for their knowledge of program operation or market developments.

The Forum's staff has grown as the range of health policy topics has expanded. The first researcher was hired in 1974, and the Health Staff Seminar was renamed the National Health Policy Forum in 1978. The Forum now employs nearly a dozen research analysts. Today, the organization serves a target audience of several thousand members of the health policy community.

The over-arching goal of looking at government policies in a constructive way has shaped the Forum into a unique resource for policymakers, one that has been hailed as the "institutional memory" of health policy. First-time observers often comment on the degree to which Forum discussions are different: complex and comprehensive, yet candid and congenial.