Strategic Priorities
1. Engaging and supporting citizens
Citizens have a critical role to play in managing their own health. However, research shows that two-thirds of Canadians do not have the health literacy skills they need to find and use basic health information.
The Foundation believes that Canadians should be able to navigate the health system and become true partners in their own healthcare. High-quality, evidence-based health information needs to be more accessible to the public.
We will:
- Help healthcare organizations do a better job of engaging the public
- Connect citizens with information about what they should expect from their interactions with the healthcare system
- Invest in community-based initiatives designed to improve health
2. Accelerating evidence-informed change
Canada invests significantly in research programs and pilot projects designed to improve health services. These projects have the potential to bring about widespread and positive change, but many of them remain “promising yet unproven approaches”: experiments that are not well understood or communicated across the health system.
The challenge is to apply research successfully. To maximize the benefits of research, it needs to be tracked and evaluated. Changes need to be made based on the results and lessons learned and organizations need to be supported in their efforts to manage those changes.
We will:
- Fund research that will provide a clear understanding of the processes of change and learning within innovative Canadian healthcare organizations
- Provide a national resource centre to support change initiatives
- Develop learning opportunities that bring organizations together to address problems related to managing change within Canadian health systems
As Canada’s population grows and ages, and as healthcare budgets continue to rise, healthcare reform is essential to ensure sustainability of high-quality services. However – despite widespread commitment to conducting high-quality research and implementing innovative solutions – there is often a failure to take up the best evidence and make positive change across healthcare systems.
As an independent knowledge-brokering organization, the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) brings stakeholders together to support evidence-informed policy development, planning and decision-making. Our activities aim to encourage frank and open dialogue among policy-makers, researchers, and the public. By disseminating the best evidence and promoting productive discussions about the benefits of using that evidence to inform decisions, CHSRF actively supports improvements to Canadian policy and health system management.
Our goals are to:
- provide formal and informal opportunities for sharing policy challenges and emerging strategies in Canada’s provincial and territorial health systems
- develop, encourage, support, and sustain new and non-traditional partnerships required to successfully implement reform in healthcare systems
- actively promote the social and economic benefits of applying the evidence generated by health services research in Canada
CHSRF will commission research and programming under four themes:
- Understanding and driving healthcare reform in Canada
- The public-private interface in Canadian healthcare funding and delivery
- Planning for Canada’s aging population
- Promoting a system that is centred on primary healthcare
