News

New health human resources research chair at McMaster joins CHEPA's faculty

sjohnston — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:00:18 GMT

The newly-appointed Ontario Research Chair in Health Human Resources at McMaster University has joined the faculty of CHEPA.

Arthur Sweetman, who took up the chair and a position as a professor in the Department of Economics on July 1, previously was director of the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University.

Sweetman’s research in his new role will focus on a variety of issues in the broad area of health human resources. His research to date has ranged from economic issues regarding labour markets – including immigration, education, poverty and unemployment insurance – to development and health. Much of his work has a policy focus and is sensitive to institutional issues.

His research chair is funded by an endowment from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care as part of the province’s health human resources strategy – Health Force Ontario. CHEPA Associate Director Jeremiah Hurley was instrumental in efforts to establish the new chair at McMaster.

Sweetman earned both his master’s and PhD in economics at McMaster. He joined Queen’s University in 2000, and held the Stauffer-Dunning Chair in Policy Studies, in addition to his role as a professor and director of the School of Policy Studies.

Sweetman brings the number of CHEPA faculty to 19.

To view his profile click here.

10-03

Sjohnston — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:09:57 GMT

Gajic A, Cameron D, Hurley J. The Impact of Alternative Incentives on Response and Retention in a Mixed-Mode Survey. Available in PDF

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Sjohnston — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:59:20 GMT

Buckley N, Cuff K, Hurley J, McLeod L, Nuscheler R, Cameron D. Willingness-to-Pay for Parallel Private Health Insurance: Evidence from Laboratory Experiment Available in PDF

CHEPA partners with International Network on Health Policy and Reform

sjohnston — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:00:19 GMT

Researchers at CHEPA have a new forum in which to showcase their ideas, ongoing work and published materials in the fields of health policy and health economics research.

Under the leadership of faculty member Michel Grignon, CHEPA has entered into a partnership as the expert group for Canada of the International Network on Health Policy and Reform, a 20-country project initiated and sponsored by Germany’s Bertelsmann Foundation, and associated with the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

The network is comprised of international experts who contribute regularly to the Health Policy Monitor website, with accounts of health policy reforms in their countries. The non-academic reports focus on a reform or discussion about an issue or planned reform in a given country, including some background on the policy under discussion.

The network and related website were launched by the Bertelsmann Foundation in 2002, as a way to narrow the gap between research and policy, and speed up information exchange on what works and what doesn’t work in health policy reform.

With many health reform issues similar across countries, the network aims to obtain and analyse information on changes and developments in health sector reform, and monitor innovative ideas as they evolve and travel within and across health care systems. This information is then shared in an efficient, straightforward and rapid manner among all network partners through semi-annual reports published on the website.

CHEPA’s first contribution to the website was prepared by Grignon on the topic of health human resources and foreign medical graduates. His report explains his plans to examine ways to ease and accelerate the accreditation of foreign-trained medical professionals in order to put human capital to use in Canada and provide fair treatment to immigrants. The main purpose of this health policy idea is to facilitate the integration of international medical graduates to set up practice and treat patients. To access Grignon’s report, click here.

The Bertelsmann Foundation, established in 1977 by Reinhard Mohn, aims to identify social problems and challenges at an early stage and develop exemplary solutions to address them. For details on the foundation, click here.

CHEPA relocates to CRL building

sjohnston — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:19:46 GMT

The Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis is on the move after more than 20 years of being housed in the McMaster Health Sciences Centre.

Early in May, CHEPA faculty, staff and students took up residence in newly-renovated space on the second floor of the CRL building, adjacent to the Health Sciences Centre.

The new location includes additional meeting and office space for graduate students supervised by CHEPA faculty, an administrative home for the Health Policy PhD program, and will bring together on one floor the staff and students of both CHEPA and its affiliated research program, the Program in Policy Decision-Making.

The building also includes a room for CHEPA's monthly seminar series.

The new address for CHEPA is 1280 Main Street West, CRL Building, 2nd Floor, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1. All existing phone numbers for staff and faculty will remain the same.

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Sjohnston — Fri, 07 May 2010 07:07:34 GMT

Mentzakis E, Stefanowska P, Hurley J. A Discrete Choice Experiment Investigating Preferences for Funding Drugs Used to Treat Orphan Diseases Available in PDF

CHEPA students honoured with awards for outstanding achievements

sjohnston — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:37:00 GMT

Several graduate students supervised by CHEPA faculty have been honoured with awards from the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University.

Mike Wilson, who is working towards a PhD in Health Research Methodology, was selected for three honours – a FHS Graduate Programs Excellence Award, a FHS Graduate Programs Outstanding Achievement Award and a FHS Student Entrepreneur Award.

Emmanuel Guindon, who is also working towards Health Research Methodology PhD, will receive a FHS Graduate Programs Excellence Award.

Nathan Souza, also a PhD student in Health Research Methodology, has earned a FHS Teaching Assistant Excellence Award.

All awards will be presented at the FHS Research Plenary on May 14.

Jessica Shearer, a CHEPA student working towards her PhD in Health Policy, has been granted a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The award is valued at $35,000 a year for three years.

Recruitment underway for new research chair in health equity

chepaAdmin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:34:37 GMT

McMaster University is seeking an outstanding researcher to assume the newly established Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis/Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Chair in Health Equity.

Candidates should be mid-career scholars leading successful research programs around the theme of equity in health services, systems and/or health, with relevant training in any of several fields such as health policy, health economics, geography, ethics or public health.

For full details, click here.

Today's CHEPA seminar cancelled

sjohnston — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:45:37 GMT

Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances the speaker for the CHEPA monthly seminar scheduled for today, April 21, is unable to attend and the seminar has been cancelled. If the seminar is rescheduled at a future date, the ususal notice will appear in this spot.

Exploring the potential of taxes as a method to fight obesity epidemic

sjohnston — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:31:48 GMT

The potential of public policy options such as increased taxes on certain foods and beverages as a method to fight the growing obesity epidemic in North America will be explored at the CHEPA monthly seminar on April 21.

Frank Chaloupka, a Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Director of the university’s Health Policy Center, will show how higher tobacco taxes in the United States led to a reduction in smoking, and discuss how a similar plan of action could impact on peoples’ food and drink choices.

The presentation entitled Applying lessons learned from tobacco to promote healthy eating will take place from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in HSC-1J8.

Chaloupka will provide a brief review on the extensive research demonstrating that higher tobacco taxes are effective in significantly reducing use and its consequences by encouraging cessation, preventing initiation and reducing frequency of use. Studies have also shown that dedicating some tobacco tax revenues to comprehensive tobacco control programs further reduces tobacco use.

He will also show how obesity rates have risen over the past 30 years, while the inflation-adjusted price of fruits and vegetables has increased, and the inflation-adjusted price of carbonated beverages and candy has declined.

The small but growing body of research that is now finding significant associations between food prices and weight outcomes, suggesting that significant taxes on unhealthy products might reduce obesity, will also be examined.

All are welcome to attend the seminar.

Chaloupka is a Fellow at the University of Illinois’ Institute for Government and Public Affairs, a research associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Health Economics Program and Children’s Program, and director of ImpacTeen: A Policy Research Partnership for Healthier Youth Behavior. His research focuses on the policy and economic determinants of health behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, healthy eating, physical activity and obesity.

Neighbouring countries' practices impact decisions on vaccine use

sjohnston — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:31:00 GMT

Jessica Shearer, who joined the Health Policy PhD program last September, is the lead author of a publication showing that policies of neighbouring countries have a significant impact on a nation’s decision to adopt the use of Haemophilus influenza Type b vaccine (Hib).

The paper published in PLoS Medicine on March 16 is the result of a study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, analyzing worldwide use of the Hib vaccine. Shearer led the project while working as a research associate at John Hopkins before joining McMaster.

The study analyzed data from 147 countries from 1990 to 2007, to identify factors that influence the time taken to introduce routine vaccination against Hib. It found that in addition to neighbouring countries’ practice, support from the GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) was also a major influence in the decision to offer the vaccine.

“This study is the first to measure how countries' decisions to adopt new vaccines are highly influenced by their neighbours’ decisions,” said Shearer. “Countries seem to be engaging in an arms race to vaccinate - decisions which will save millions of lives.”

According to the study, the receipt of GAVI support accelerated the time to take the decision to use Hib vaccine by 63 per cent. The presence of two or more neighbouring countries using Hib vaccine accelerated adoption by 50 per cent. An increase in price increased the time it took a country to adopt Hib vaccine, which substantiated the findings of previous studies.

“While high vaccine prices hinder adoption, the absence of long-term, stable financing policies at the global level had an even more detrimental effect,” said Shearer.

The World Health Organization estimates 2.1 million people died worldwide in 2002 due to vaccine-preventable diseases.

Since 2002, Canada has committed $348 million to the GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership committed to increasing access to vaccines for the world’s poorest children.

Shearer has a master’s of health sciences degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and is a graduate of McMaster’s Arts & Science Program. She has worked in India and Senegal evaluating community-based public health projects, and with India's national immunization program. At McMaster she is exploring public health policymaking in West Africa, including the role of research evidence and networks of stakeholders, under the supervision of John Lavis.

To view Shearer’s publication, click here.

New research chairholder will study Ontario's health human resources needs

sjohnston — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:04:27 GMT

The doctor shortage, health care budgets and the number of different types of health professionals needed in the province of Ontario are examples of the issues McMaster’s new Ontario Research Chair in Health Human Resources will tackle.

Arthur Sweetman has been named the inaugural holder of the new position funded by an endowment from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care as part of the province’s health human resources strategy - Health Force Ontario. Sweetman will join the University July 1.

CHEPA member Jeremiah Hurley was instrumental in efforts to establish the new chair. He led the development of the proposal for McMaster to host the chair, which was awarded to the University by the Council of Ontario Universities through the Ontario Research Chairs program.

“Ontario is being very innovative by, among other things, introducing new categories and roles for health professions, including physician assistants, dietitians, midwives, respiratory therapists, and physiotherapists,” says Sweetman. “But the province faces challenges because of its sheer size and the rate of growth of the health care budget. This chair will be able to address some of the most pressing public policy issues facing us today.”

A native of Montreal, Sweetman was most recently director of the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University. He also has early ties to Hamilton, having worked at Stelco before pursuing his PhD in economics at McMaster.

“I’m thrilled that Arthur Sweetman has agreed to come on board to develop the evidence that will help us improve health human resources planning and strengthen patient care across this province,” said Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

It’s not surprising McMaster was selected to develop a centre of excellence in health human resources research and modelling, said Charlotte Yates, dean of Social Sciences.

“There exists at McMaster a large and dedicated group of health policy and labour economics researchers. This chair joins a hub of expertise in this field and will find many experts with whom Arthur can collaborate,” said Yates.

Bill Scarth, chair of McMaster’s Department of Economics, said that with health care accounting for almost 50 per cent of the province’s budget, “considerable skill is needed to make the system more efficient without hurting patient care during the coming period of deficit reduction. Arthur has the ability to bring policy and rigorous empirical study under one umbrella.”

Sweetman’s research interests focus primarily on empirical economic issues related to labour market, social and health policy. Recent research topics include health policy, education, immigration, poverty, employment insurance, program evaluation and microfinance.

Role of ethics in hospital policy development subject of seminar

sjohnston — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:22:07 GMT

A project that aims to develop best practices for the ethical analysis of policies within health care institutions will be the focus of the CHEPA monthly seminar on Feb. 24.

Andrea Frolic, clinical and organizational ethicist with Hamilton Health Sciences, will lead the discussion entitled What is “ethical” health policy analysis? The roles of ethics committees in hospital policy development, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in HSC-1J8.

While hospitals invest significant resources to develop institutional policies governing diverse issues such as consent procedures, the hiring/firing process and disposal of human remains, this type of micro-level health policy garners little theoretical attention in the literature on hospital governance. Many of these policies have significant ethical dimensions.

The presentation will describe a project initiated by the Hamilton Health Sciences Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC), and include specific information on the typical roles of ethics committees within hospitals and the literature on the functions of ethical frameworks in health policies. Katherine Drolet, a master’s candidate in the Anthropology of Health program at McMaster, will report on the literature review and methodology of the research project. The CEC’s recent attempts to describe, analyze and refine its policy review process using a Quality Improvement framework will also be explained.

Discussion will focus on the intersection of ethics, policy and practice within hospitals.

Frolic’s research interests focus on moral distress, narrative ethics and ethics consultation. Since joining Hamilton Health Sciences in 2004, she has worked on various projects including recruiting and training a nationally-recognized Ethics Consultation Service Team, developing an integrated approach to ethics from bedside to boardroom, and creating an ethical decision-making framework.

Frolic earned her PhD in medical anthropology from Rice University in Houston, and completed a clinical ethics fellowship at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, as well as an MA in religion and culture at Wilfrid Laurier University.

All are welcome to attend the seminar.

Seminar to examine methods to improve health care program evaluation

sjohnston — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:04:51 GMT

A research scientist with expertise in studying evaluation methods for health care related programs will be the speaker for the CHEPA monthly seminar on Jan. 20.

Sanjeev Sridharan, director of the evaluation program at the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and an associate professor of health policy, management and evaluation at the University of Toronto, will deliver a presentation entitled Ten Steps to Making Evaluations Matter.

The presentation will focus on the need to go beyond the “cookie-cutter” type of thinking that often characterizes evaluations of programs. The 10 steps Sridharan will propose build on the belief that any system of performance measurement and evaluation needs to first confront the complexity of the program.

The 10 steps are based on a “realist” approach to evaluation, which attempts to understand why programs work. The proposed steps are informed by program theory, learning frameworks and pathways of influence, evaluation design, and learning, spread and sustainability.

Sridharan will describe how this system could lead to comprehensive evaluation plans and designs for evaluations that would have greater potential to influence programs and policies. The application of the 10 steps to knowledge translation, health inequities and international development will also be discussed.

The seminar will be held in HSC-1J8 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend.

Sridharan earned his PhD in social ecology from the University of California at Irvine, and a master’s degree in public policy from Purdue University in Indiana. He is a scientist with the Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital.

His research interests and activities include health inequalities, community interventions for public health, evaluation design and methodologies and primary prevention.

Hsien Seow joins CHEPA faculty

sjohnston — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:56:00 GMT

Hsien Seow, who holds a Cancer Care Ontario Health Services Research Chair in the Department of Oncology, has joined CHEPA’s faculty.

Seow came to McMaster University last summer from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he was a teaching assistant and held a Doctoral Research Award in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Oncology and has an associate appointment in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

His research interests involve the examination of how the organization, financing and delivery of care affects the quality of health care for adults with serious, chronic illnesses.

Seow earned his B.Sc. in biology at Yale University, and his PhD in health policy and management from the John Hopkins School of Public Health. He has previously worked as a research assistant in the fields of palliative care, electronic medical records, and end-of-life quality measures, and as a researcher with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

To view his profile, click here.