Research Guides: Health Services and Policy Research: Policy

What's on this Page

This page provides resources to help you identify policies at the federal and state and local level, including COVID-19 policies. If you are looking to find peer-reviewed studies related to policies, please see the databases page in this guide. Resources in the news section of this guide can help you identify policies being discussed.

Policy Memo Examples

Policy Memo Database: Harvard Kennedy School of Government
A databases of a wide range of policy memos (e.g., in the U.S. and abroad, at the federal and local levels) in order to compare and contrast styles, tone, and structure.

Policy Tracking and Surveillance Tools

Below is a small sample of tracking and surveillance tools. To find other tools, think through which organization might be interested in aggregating this content based on your area of interest.

Analysis & Evaluation Tools

GAO Reports
The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.
Equity Assessment Framework for Public Laws and Policies
Provides a way to assess the equity implications of existing or
proposed laws or policies. It can assist in identifying issues in the drafting, design, or implementation of a law or policy that could have a disproportionate impact on different population groups.
Health Policy Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Development of health policy relevant to the United States.
Health Policy Analysis: Framework and Tools for Success
This is the only resource to provide a step-by-step framework and expert guidance for preparing a policy analysis final paper or a capstone project for courses in health policy and health policy analysis.
The Magenta Book
Provides guidance on what to think about when designing an evaluation..outlines how thinking about evaluation before and during policy-making can improve the quality of results produced to evaluate that policy.
Public Policy Analysis: New Developments
provides an overview and typology of different types of policy analytic activities, characterizing them according to differences in character and leading values, and linking them to a variety of theoretical notions on policymaking. Thereby, it provides assistance to both end users and analysts in choosing an appropriate approach given a specific policy situation.
Introduction to Program Evaluation for Public Health Programs: A Self-Study Guide
This document is a “how to” guide for planning and implementing evaluation activities. The manual, based on CDC’s Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health, is intended to assist managers and staff of public, private, and community public health programs to plan, design, implement and use comprehensive evaluations in a practical way.

Federal Resources

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs
Search for CRS reports by topic or date.
Congress.gov
Source for federal legislative information. Find bills, resolutions, committee reports and other health policy related information.
CQ Magazine
Analytical articles on Congressional legislation and politics since 1983 and roll call votes since 1995.
HeinOnline
Provides full-text access to the archives of core legal journals and other legal materials. Includes federal laws, regluations, case law, and reports and opinions of the U.S. Attorney General, and more
LLMC (Law Library Microform Consortium)
Contains material on U.S. federal law: administrative, legislative and judicial resources.
ProQuest Congressional
Indexes and abstracts Congressional committee publications including hearings, committee prints, reports, documents, and public laws. Includes full text documents back to 1789.
Regulations.gov
Proposed regulations and related documents published by the U.S. Federal government.

State and Local Resources

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
Resources below to assist state health agencies and others in understanding national trends and emerging issues impacting public health and state health agencies.
LegiScan
Provides the ability to conduct a national legislative search and to develop a topic-related or bill specific e-mail alert to track legislation for one state. You can also create and share basic reports. Use the free registration to get started.
National Academy for State Health Policy
Nonpartisan forum of policymakers throughout state governments. Ability to search policies on a range of topics.
National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
Legislative resources and tools related to local public health priorities.
National Conference of State Legislatures
Provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues.
National Governors Association
governors identify priority issues and deal collectively with matters of public policy and governance at the state and national levels.
National Survey of State Laws
Compares laws up to 2019.
Nexis Uni
Find state bills, laws, regulations and cases. For most states bill coverage goes back to mid-1990s.
Open States
Aggregates data from all 50 states. Research bills, review voting records, contact elected officials and more.
State Health Access Data Assistance Center
Create customized reports on state-level health insurance coverage, access, & cost.
State Network (Robert Wood Johnson)
Resource hub for state level, health-related policies.

Policy Responses to COVID-19

Federal

State and Local Resources

Topic Specific