The Health Council selected the NIHP to facilitate and encourage research, surveys and professional expert opinion intended to supervise the implementation of the National Health Insurance Law and evaluate its influence on the health services in Israel.

The NIHP issues an annual "Call for Proposals" (CFP) for research and scholarship applications. The CFP is sent out to institutions and researchers in the field, and is also announced in the press. All applications complying with the Institute's research agenda are subjected to a thorough peer-review evaluation process by appropriate experts from both Israel and abroad and the final approval is given by the NIHP's Research Board
Periodically the researchers are invited to present their findings in an appropriate forum (Research Seminar, conferences, workshops, etc.)

The NIHP's main fields of research are:
 Health Policy
 Organization of healthcare services
 Health Economics
 Quality of healthcare services

The CFP may be specified to certain targeted topics according to the recommendations of the Health Council or the NIHP institutes. The research grants are budgeted up to 500,000 NIS for a research implementation period of up to three years.

Scholarships
Special grants are earmarked to encourage research by Master and PhD students from different faculties whose dissertations are in one of the field's of research above.