Grant: Project Grant

Though they aim to improve health, drugs and medical devices contribute to the climate crisis and environmental degradation. The agencies that regulate which technologies become available for patients, and that inform how those technologies will be used, have an important influence on these environmental impacts. Three sets of agencies are especially important: (i) Market access agencies, such as Health Canada, which regulate which health technologies can be sold within a country; (ii) Health Technology Assessment agencies, such as the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, which advise on what technologies should be paid for by health systems; and (iii) National and provincial procurement agencies, which determine which technologies will be bought and used in hospitals and other care settings. Globally and in Canada, several of these agencies have developed ways to include some information about environmental impact into their decisions. As well, a number of research groups are developing methods to support them. Yet these efforts are not sufficient to identify policy options. First, we need to know more about how agencies can use different approaches to incorporate environmental considerations into decision-making. Second, we need to understand how agencies influence environmental performance even when that is not their aim, for example, through unintended effects and interaction effects. Finally, research needs to account for the many organizations that influence regulatory decisions about environmental performance by setting standards for evidence and evaluation, even though they have no regulatory authority. Our multidisciplinary research team, advised by an Expert Advisory Committee of regulators, plan a multiple case study to fill these knowledge gaps, to inform policy makers and agencies about options to support the adoption and use of environmentally preferable health technologies.