HPME to House "ICES on Campus"
Health services researchers will soon have better access to the extensive data base of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). ICES is establishing a new ICES data access centre at HPME, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care; HPME, the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto; several teaching hospitals; and the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion. The site will be one of three established across the province to: improve access to the data base for researchers; support collaborative research activities; and increase the amount of health services research conducted in the province. ICES tracks the health care data of Ontario 's 12 million residents. The site is expected to open in summer 2009.

Master of Health Informatics Program Underway
HPME welcomed its first class of Master of Health Informatics (MHI) students in September. The multi-disciplinary, 16-month graduate program will help to meet the growing demand for professional health informaticians. In addition to studying health systems and information and communication technologies, MHI students will participate in professional practicum placements with leading health informaticians in government, health service providers and the private sector.

Quality Improvement in High Performing Organizations
What does it take to be an organization that can make and sustain improvements in quality? What sets high performing organizations apart? A research project led by HPME's Dr. Ross Baker tackled those questions by looking at the strategies of leading systems around the world. The findings are incorporated into a new book, High Performing Healthcare Systems: Delivering Quality by Design, to be released mid-October. The book (available from Longwoods Publishing) provides a series of case studies designed as tools to help organizations engage senior management, board members and clinicians in discussions on issues relating to quality.

Evaluating the Cost-effectiveness of Occupational Health
Policy-makers and researchers have long struggled with how to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of occupational health and safety interventions. There are many obstacles, including: complex labour legislation; multiple stakeholders and payers; conflicting incentives and priorities among stakeholders; and lack of consensus on what should be considered a benefit or a cost. Economic Evaluation of Interventions for Occupational Health and Safety: Developing Good Practice (Oxford University Press), a new book co-edited by HPME's Dr. Tony Culyer, takes up the challenge – identifying the key barriers to effective economic evaluation and proposing methods to address them.

Making the Case for Appropriateness
HPME professor Raisa Deber makes the case for moving beyond discussions of access and controlling cost in her recent article “Access without Appropriateness: Chicken Little in Charge?” in the journal Healthcare Policy. Deber cites examples in which public, patient and industry pressure for access to newer medications and diagnostic technology has trumped evidence-based medicine. She argues that effective health policy must also take into account appropriateness and makes suggestions for improvement, including increased emphasis on risk-benefit rather than cost-benefit and an increased focus on outcomes.

Events

Seminars Focus on Hot Topics in Health Policy
This fall HPME hosts a series of seminars focused on “hot” issues and controversies in health care economics and policy. The series features leading Canadian and international researchers who are engaged in the issues and their impact on health care systems. Dr. Tony Culyer, HPME faculty member and Ontario Chair in Health Policy and System Design, will moderate the series. All seminars are free of charge and take place Mondays from 4-6 p.m. at the Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street, University of Toronto.

Next up: Oct. 27 – Pricing Human Tissue: The Creation of Medical Value, Tom Getzen, Professor of Risk Insurance and Health Management, Fox School of Business, Temple University; Nov. 10 – Big Pharma and the Use of Economic Analysis in Formulary Decisions: Lessons from Australia, David Henry, President and CEO, ICES. More dates, topics and speakers.

Physician Leadership Program Fall 2008
HPME's popular Physician Leadership Program is now accepting registrations for its fall 2008 session. Designed for physicians in, or desiring, leadership positions, the program provides the fundamentals of health leadership and management, including tools to influence organizational effectiveness. The program uses a problem-based interactive format and offers post-program follow-up and mentoring. The Fall program consists of two three-day modules:

Module 1: Thursday October 16 to Saturday October 18, 2008
Module 2: Thursday November 20 to Saturday November 22, 2008

For more information, or to register, see the HPME website.