CIHR Catalyst Grant : Policy Research for Health System Transformation
Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery
Deadlines
Academic Unit: Inquire with Unit
Memorial Deadline: Wednesday 12th, October 2022
External Deadline: Monday 17th, October 2022
Description
This funding opportunity supports Policy Research for Health System Transformation grants, including retrospective policy evaluations or prospective policy development/implementation, that generate evidence to inform macro-level policies to support high-performing health care and public health systems in Canada with the aim of advancing the Quadruple Aim – improved population health outcomes, better patient and provider experience, and increased value – and health equity (sometimes referred to as the Quintuple Aim). In addition, it will provide support for a supplemental knowledge mobilization synthesis project to coordinate and lead a synthesis of the policy research approaches used by the policy research teams, of the policy issues and of their findings/options, to support learning across all teams.
Policy research is useful both retrospectively to understand the impacts of policy changes and past policy successes, failures, harms, and unintended consequences, and prospectively to inform an improved future with evidence-informed and contextualized policy options and/or implementation. Health policy research may draw upon new and/or existing research and harness a variety of theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches, including qualitative research, quantitative research, mixed methods research, a variety of methodologies (e.g., statistical analysis, case studies, key informant interviews, patient-oriented research [POR], polling, survey research, economic evaluation, policy trials, etc.), and comparative research to learn from other approaches and experience.
All projects supported through this funding opportunity must:
- Address a macro-level health care or public health system challenge or priority (i.e., how to finance, fund, organize, deliver and/or govern health systems and/or services) identified by a policymaker partner and of importance to a knowledge user with lived experience (e.g., a patient, member of the public, or community representative). All projects must be of high priority to the project’s policymaker(s) and knowledge user(s) and be designed to inform or advance the policymaker’s decision-making.
- Include clear rationale for the policy priority and analysis, identify the expected outcomes (i.e., what is the policy intended to achieve? Why is it a priority and for whom?), and develop evidence-informed, contextualized policy options for a Canadian jurisdiction (i.e., all projects must, at minimum, consider the policy context and budgetary impact and contextualize the evidence for implementation in a given jurisdiction).
- Mobilize input and expertise from multiple disciplines (i.e., health, law, economics, political science, sociology, epidemiology, health services research, population health, behavioral science, etc.) and perspectives (i.e., policymaker, knowledge users with lived experience) to analyze and contextualize the various dimensions of the policy issue (e.g., legal, health, social, economic, cultural, political) and policy options.
- Use knowledge mobilization (KM) strategies throughout, including an integrated Knowledge Translation (iKT) approach where the policymaker(s) and knowledge user(s) with lived experience are engaged throughout the entire research process, and must incorporate the three phased KM approach outlined below.
- Justify with rigorous evidence any recommendation for resource allocation to their respective policy area given the competing demands for the same public health and health care budget systems1.
Additionally, projects are strongly encouraged to apply a cross-jurisdictional and/or international comparative policy lens to learn from others’ experience. Projects may focus on any or all of the stages of the iterative policymaking process (including policy mapping, policy agenda setting, policy formulation, adoption/implementation, and/or analysis of policies)2. The identified policy issues and options are encouraged to avoid “incrementalism” approaches3, and to identify the levers for transformation.
The funding opportunity’s ultimate aim is to provide policymakers timely, accessible, relevant and solution-oriented evidence and policy options to advance the Quadruple Aim goals and health equity, and to support high-performing health care and public health systems in Canada.
Additional information can be found here.