Health Policy Foundations in Canada
9:00 am | Welcome & Introductions
Overview of workshop aims; participant introductions; icebreaker activity.
9:30 am | What is Health Policy?
Definitions; examples; why health policy matters in Canada. Introduction to the underlying social values (e.g., equity, universality, solidarity, autonomy) that inform health policy debates and decisions.
10:30 am | Break
10:45 am | The Provincial Health Systems: Five Key Health Policy Issues
Overview of issues identified by the government – why they are important, nature of decisions required, possibilities and constraints.
12:00 pm | Lunch
1:00 pm | Health Policy Actors and Institutions
Stakeholders: government, professional bodies, Indigenous organizations, civil society, industry, and the public. How stakeholder values and interests shape resource allocation decisions.
2:30 pm | Break
2:45 pm | Evidence-Based Policy-Making: Potential and Limits
2-3 case studies of how research-based evidence does and doesn’t appear to influence decision-making (e.g., drug formulary committees, long term care spending, harm reduction) and lessons learned.
4:30 pm | Q&A/Reflection
Open discussion. Key takeaways from Day 1.
5:00 pm | Reception
9:00 am | Evaluating Health Policies
Overview of how evaluation frameworks and criteria are developed; assessing value for money; the difficulty of attribution; accountability in the health system.
10:30 am | Break
10:45 am | Group Work: Policy Formulation and Options Analysis
Analyze a current policy issue (e.g., surgical wait lists, or physician supply) – describe the problem, the political factors, resource implications, and values underlying various options.
12:00 am | Lunch
1:00 pm | Group Work: Policy Formulation and Options Analysis
Propose a new policy initiative and define its objectives; describe 2 or 3 main options and what distinguishes them; and list criteria for assessing the options.
2:15 pm | Break
2:30 pm | Public Opinion and Health Policy Choices
Overview of how health policies factor into political campaigns; how public opinion is formed; conflicts between public opinion and scientific evidence.
3:45 pm | Concluding Overview and Feedback
Round table on what participants learned, what went well, what could have been better, suggestions for next year.