CAHSPR Planning Update
CAHSPR is pleased to share a report prepared by the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research that summarizes key stages in CAHSPR's ongoing membership consultations and strategic planning processes. The report can be accessed here.
The work of defining what exactly it is that CAHSPR should do continues; however, the general direction that the association is heading in can be summarized in the following draft vision and mission statements:
Vision: CAHSPR envisions high-performing health systems across Canada wherein research evidence is available, appreciated, and applied.
Mission: To improve health and health care by advancing the quality, relevance, and application of research in health services and health policy.
The Board of Directors has identified four areas of strategic focus for CAHSPR, each of which contains activities that CAHSPR could logically engage in on behalf of the community of individuals and organizations that it supports:
1. “Community building” so that there will be excellent connections and collaboration among a wide range of individuals and organizations involved in the production and use of research on health services and policy across Canada.
2. “Promoting the field” so that there will be a high level of appreciation of the value of research on health services and policy by decision-makers, the public, and academe.
3. “Supporting capacity-building” so that there will be world-class capacity across Canada for the production and use of evidence on health services and policy.
4. “Fostering linkage and exchange” so that research evidence on health services and policy is timely, relevant, and accessible for decision-making across Canada.
Several examples of concrete activities that CAHSPR might undertake are provided in this report, grouped according to these four strategic areas of focus.
Final decisions concerning association activities outlined in the update report have not been made yet. Thus, the Board of Directors would welcome feedback on the report and on the suggested strategic directions for the association. The CAHSPR membership will be provided with specific recommendations for approval at the Annual General Meeting in May 2012.
Please note: as a working document prepared through in-kind contributions of the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, the consultation update has not been translated into French. Official strategic planning documents from CAHSPR and related motions for the CAHSPR membership will be translated.