direct or indirect effect in health care policy development.

Stakeholders can be individuals or associations that can have a direct or indirect effect in health care policy development. These are also termed interest groups. Interest groups and Stakeholders can have powerful influence on health policy improvement. Policies often are endorsed when stakeholders come together, having a vested interest. Some interests may be considered public or be of self-interest. When it involves public interest a specific course of action is followed based on data, information and community values. With self-interest the involvement may focus more with individuals or group interests. Both are equally important in generating debate with policy issues. The healthcare field has a mixture of significance stakeholders. One type of stakeholder is the interest group. Interest groups hold a common set of preferences on specific healthcare issues and seek to influence policy changes through public opinion. Some of the major stakeholders in health policy are consumers, patients, healthcare providers, health care establishment