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Abbreviation | EvidenceNetwork.ca |
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Formation | 2011 |
Type | Creates original media content on public policy topics for publication in the mainstream media and links journalists with policy experts to provide access to non-partisan, evidence-based information. |
Legal status | active |
Purpose | To provide evidence-based research and experts to journalists covering health policy issues. |
Headquarters | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
Region served | Canada |
Official language | English |
Lead | Dr. Shannon Sampert (Director and Editor-in-Chief), Kathleen O'Grady, Managing Editor |
Parent organization | University of Winnipeg |
Affiliations | Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, Manitoba Health Research Council, George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation |
Staff | 4 |
Website | http://www.evidencenetwork.ca |
EvidenceNetwork.ca creates media content on public policy topics for publication in the mainstream media and links journalists with policy experts to provide access to non-partisan, evidence-based information. [1] According to their annual reports, they have published hundreds of original articles in every major media outlet in Canada every year since 2011, reprinted over 3700 times across media outlets [2] All of their content carries a Creative Commons license. [3]
EvidenceNetwork.ca was created under the direction of Dr. Noralou Roos, the Founding Director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and co-founded with Dr. Sharon Manson Singer, professor, School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University. [4] Dr. Shannon Sampert, former Politics and Opinions Editor at the Winnipeg Free Press and academic at the University of Winnipeg edited the project from 2017-2018. Kathleen O'Grady Research Associate at Concordia University was the Managing Editor from 2011-2019. [5] EvidenceNetwork.ca ceased operations as of the end of 2019 but the content and the site remains online under the direction of Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement until at least 2024. [6]
The initiative was originally funded with a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Manitoba Health Research Council (MHRC) and the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation. [7] [8] Additional support was provided by the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CFHI). [9] It is currently funded by CFHI with support from individual CIHR institutes. [4]
EvidenceNetwork.ca was established to address the complex debates leading up to the 2014 renegotiation of the Canada Health Accord, and after, to highlight evidence on health policy issues across the country. The Director, Dr, Roos, says, "Health policy issues are increasingly complex and are too often taken over by politics and ideology. We thought the best way to serve the Canadian public would be to create an accessible and reliable resource where journalists can quickly find independent experts and evidence on issues as they arise." [10] [11]
The site provides evidence-based information on controversial health policy issues for journalists such as the sustainability of the health care system, the impact of the aging population,[ citation needed ] the rising costs of drugs, accessibility and appropriateness of care, pharmaceutical policy, obesity, mental health, and the role of the private sector. There is also a section on the comparison between Canadian and international models of healthcare. [12] The site offers background papers and provides a comprehensive list of experts from across the country that journalists can contact quickly as they report on breaking health policy stories. [13] [14]
The British Medical Journal's Evidence-Based Medicine highlighted the work of the network as an example for how to facilitate "the science and art of combining opinion and evidence." [15] University Affairs says of the initiative, "The project aims to break the traditional pattern of academics writing for other academics in journals that aren’t read by the mainstream press, or of professors avoiding the media, leaving a select few to appear again and again." [16] J-Source, a professional publication for the Canadian media says of the network, "it's an ambitious initiative to get the latest and best findings in health sciences and policy research into the broader public conversation by engaging the media." [17] In an article for Healthcare Policy, Dr. Roos et al. state that the project "seeks to improve the Canadian healthcare system and, ultimately, the health of Canadians by ensuring that our best health policy evidence is understood by journalists and accurately communicated to Canadians and policy makers." [7]
EvidenceNetwork.ca was established in consultation with experienced media advisors, health and health policy researchers and third party evidence brokers including the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the Health Council of Canada. [18] [19]
The network of more than 80 scholars dedicated to evidence-based health research and policy direction also regularly publishes commentaries (OpEds) and articles in the mainstream media. The network has published more than 1200 commentaries and articles in the Canadian press since its inception, and has made all of the articles available for free re-use and dissemination by putting a Creative Commons license on the material. [2] [20] [21] [15] In 2012, the organization published a compendium of their Creative Commons content in an ebook, Canadian Health Policy in the News: Why Evidence Matters. [22] [23] [24] [25] In 2014, they released a second free ebook collection of commentaries, Making Evidence Matter in Canadian Health Policy. [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]
A sample of the network's published commentaries includes:
The Director of the initiative, Dr. Noralou Roos has said in an interview, "There are key discussions going on in health policy, and academics typically have that evidence, and it’s important for those discussions in the media to be informed by evidence as much as possible." [16]
The University of Manitoba is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of western Canada.
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Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of publicly funded health care, informally called Medicare. It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984, and is universal. The 2002 Royal Commission, known as the Romanow Report, revealed that Canadians consider universal access to publicly funded health services as a "fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country."
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...intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on inpatient admissions and lengths of stay; the establishment of cost-sharing incentives for outpatient surgery; selective contracting with health care providers; and the intensive management of high-cost health care cases. The programs may be provided in a variety of settings, such as Health Maintenance Organizations and Preferred Provider Organizations.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is one of twelve agencies within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The agency is headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.. It was established as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) in 1989 as a constituent unit of the Public Health Service (PHS) to enhance the quality, appropriateness, and effectiveness of health care services and access to care by conducting and supporting research, demonstration projects, and evaluations; developing guidelines; and disseminating information on health care services and delivery systems.
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The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement is a non-profit and non-partisan organization based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada that collaborates with governments, policy makers, researchers, front-line clinicians, patients and practice leaders, as well as non-profit and professional organizations to accelerate healthcare improvements and transform Canada's healthcare systems.
Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP) is a public, not-for-profit research unit in the Department of Community Health Sciences within the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba. MCHP provides and uses population-based administrative data to inform health policy, social policy and health and social service delivery provincially, nationally and internationally. MCHP also creates population-based research on health and the social determinants of health.
Alejandro R. Jadad Bechara is a Canadian-Colombian physician whose work focuses on the creation of a pandemic of health through digital technologies and collaboration across traditional boundaries. He is also known as the researcher responsible for the development of the Jadad Scale, the first validated tool to assess the methodological quality of clinical trials.
John Norman Lavis is a Canadian physician based in Toronto, Ontario. He is a tenured professor in the Department of Health Evidence and Impact at McMaster University, where he founded and directs the McMaster Health Forum. He is co-lead of Rapid-Improvement Support and Exchange (RISE).
Colleen M. Flood is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa and University Research Chair in Health Law and Policy. She is also the Director for the University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics. Previously, Flood served as a Professor at the University of Toronto and Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
Leslie Leon Roos is a Distinguished Professor in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba. He was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2010. He is also a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and was a founding director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy.
Noralou Preston Roos is an American-Canadian professor emerita of community health sciences. She has won several awards for her work in health policy, public health, publicly funded health care, and advocacy of evidence-based medicine and health promotion.