The year 2020 will go down in the history books as the year virtually everything changed. Changes that have been made due to COVID19 are now prompting us to rethink how we have always done business; to make changes that are innovative and take us into new territory to enhance our programs and services. CAHSPR is one of the organizations that is growing in new directions. One of these new directions is our first foray into holding a virtual conference for Canada’s health services and policy research community that is scheduled for this month on May 27 and 28, 2020.

“Virtually CAHSPR” will focus on the impacts of COVID19 on Canada’s health system, as we explore A COVID Informed Vision for the Future of Healthcare and Health Services and Policy Research. We have a group of spectacular speakers and panelists lined up to discuss their views and observations on what the COVID pandemic has taught us about the delivery of healthcare in Canada, and the impacts of these lessons on health services and policy as the system evolves into a new normal.

The agenda for our first virtual conference is shaping up to be an exciting one with thought leaders from primary care, health economics, acute care, home and community care, patient experience, health informatics and policy.

While we were disappointed that we had to cancel our 2020 in-person conference, we will honour the work of the researchers whose work had been accepted for presentation at the in-person conference by creating a compendium of their abstracts. The calibre of the work submitted and accepted is excellent and important to share. Look for this book of abstracts in the coming weeks.

We’re excited to share Virtually CAHSPR with our community and we are looking forward to learning from it so that we can continue to evolve as an association and so that we can offer you, our members, enhanced and relevant programming that meets your needs.

Registration for Virtually CAHSPR: A COVID Informed Vision for the Future of Healthcare and Health Services and Policy Research will be open next week. Make sure you sign up – we think this is going to be an exciting event and we look forward to charting this new virtual path with you.