Health Policy

The Israeli health care system provides universal coverage with high quality of care. At the same time, it faces significant challenges in terms of avoidable morbidity, availability and access to healthcare services, infrastructure and human resources, and equity in the provision of services. Recently, these challenges were exacerbated by the Israel-Hamas War, mainly in the areas of mental health, rehabilitation, medical personnel, and the safeguarding of medical clinics and hospitals. The Health Policy Team at MJB supports the healthcare system in coping with these challenges in routine times and in times of war by providing the government ministries with the evidence and research resources to support long-term strategic processes and reforms in the health system by performing international surveys, accompanying public committees, reviewing strategic documents, and by conducting research, including rapid response studies and long-term longitudinal studies. The researchers of the Health Policy Team assist the professional staff in the Ministry of Health in extrapolating insights for policymaking from selected databases. They also evaluate current challenges as well as the reforms led by the government ministries and suggest directions for action with a view to maintaining and promoting the quality, access, equity, and efficiency of the health care system in Israel.