Interpreting legislative voting patterns on health issues: a method and rationale.

Crucial decisions affecting the health field are increasingly being made in the political arena. To interpret and effectively influence these political events, the health specialist must become acquainted with the political decision maker's perspective on health issues. This report presents a method for analyzing legislative voting patterns to determine the issue structure within which health-related legislative decisions are made. Once this issue structure has been determined for a given legislative body, relevant strategies for influencing the decision-making process can be designed.