The Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research organization located in Washington, D.C. HSC designs and conducts studies focused on the U.S. health care system to inform the decisions of policy makers in government and private industry. HSC studies contribute broadly to the body of health care policy research that enables decision makers to understand change at the national and local level and the market forces driving that change. HSC’s core research effort is the Community Tracking Study. While the CTS is national in scope, it focuses on the community level, where care is organized and delivered. The study consists of biennial visits to 12 communities and periodic national surveys of those involved in or affected by changes in the health system — namely households, physicians and employers. Conducted by telephone, the surveys are concentrated in 60 communities. Recently, HSC has greatly broadened the scope of its research, particular in the field of employer-based health benefits. HSC's president is Paul Ginsburg. HSC receives its funding principally from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is affiliated with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
