Musings of a Robert Wood Johnson health policy fellow

Abstract

Background: Changes in national health policy affect all health care providers. To increase its understanding and involvement in health care development, in 1973, the medical profession, through the Institute of Medicine, developed a formal program--the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Health Policy Fellowships Program--in the nation's capital.

Methods: Each year, since the mid-'70s, the RWJ Health Policy Fellowships Program provides "hands-on" health policy development experiences, to mid-career health professionals. Participants obtain an understanding of the health policy process at the national level, and an opportunity to contribute to the formulation of new policies and programs.

Results: The author describes his 1989-1990 RWJ Fellowship year. He reports that health professionals can and do contribute significantly in the development of national health policy. He also observes that there has been minimal participation by optometrists in the RWJ Health Policy Fellowship Program. During his fellowship, the author observed that the optometry profession was poorly understood and underrepresented at the national level.

Conclusions: There is a need for direct optometric involvement in national health policy development. The RWJ Health Policy Fellowships Program provides exemplary policy experiences. This and alternative methods to increase optometric involvement and participation in health policy development, are discussed.