Grant: Planning Grants - Priority Announcement: Health Services and Policy Research

Pharmaceutical costs have increased exponentially over the past decade and represent a major driver for expanding health care expenditures. In Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), as in some other Canadian jurisdictions, momentous decisions about the allocation of costly drugs are taken largely on ad hoc basis; this approach can be both ethically problematic and economically unsustainable. Some jurisdictions have adopted alternative approaches known as 'deliberative processes' (DPs) that engage the citizenry in the process of making resource allocation decisions and offer an alternative to current ad-hoc processes. In Newfoundland and Labrador, senior decision makers in the provincial government and in Eastern Health (NL's largest regional health authority), along with the research community, have expressed interest in learning more about the desirability and feasibility of establishing DPs to support improved health care decision making. To address this need, we are proposing a one-day workshop that will allow senior decision makers in NL to meet with external researcher and decision maker experts from selected jurisdictions. We expect that this event will result in an improved understanding of current deliberative processes in health resource allocation and their impacts; a better understanding of the research evidence surrounding these processes; and strengthened relationships between the participating health system decision makers and researchers. Finally, we expect that this event will help us identify specific research questions on citizen engagement that will both address the current needs of the health system and contribute to the existing body of knowledge.