McMaster Health Forum and ARCC awarded CPAC grant

The McMaster Health Forum is proud to announce that, in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC), we have been awarded funding from CPAC to engage Canadians in order to better inform decision-making about cancer drug funding. Lead investigators Julia Abelson (CHEPA/McMaster Health Forum), Dr. Stuart Peacock (ARCC Co-Director), and Michael Burgess (ARCC Investigator) will lead this pan-Canadian initiative with the assistance and extensive collaboration of their research teams.

“This project is an important step towards identifying better decision-making models for cancer drug funding, which will incorporate the best-available evidence as well as the priorities and values of Canadian citizens,” said Julia Abelson. “Making fair decisions about funding cancer drugs in Canada will require making adjustments to how judgements are made."

As part of this research project, six public deliberation events across four provinces are planned for 2016. As one of its core programs, the Forum convenes citizen panels to provide the opportunity for citizens to make informed judgements about addressing high-priority health-related issues. Building around a deliberative dialogue approach, this innovative program helps to uncover unique understandings of these issues and spark insights about viable solutions that are aligned with citizens’ values and preferences. Anticipated deliverables for this project include:

  • A set of recommendations from each deliberative public engagement event to guide cancer drug funding decisions within the different provincial jurisdictions (recommendations are generated by participants at each event and will be directly included in our provincial guidance)
  • A synthesis of recommendations and guidance from across the provincial jurisdictions, including areas of agreement and persistent disagreement (the synthesis will include results from the provincial events, including the 2014 BC deliberation, and a pan-Canadian deliberative event)
  • The development of tools and strategies to help support provincial funding decisions on cancer drugs

“I am very excited to be involved in this collaboration, which builds on our expertise in incorporating citizen perspectives in the policy-making process,” said Abelson. "I look forward to what promise to be very engaging discussions on this important topic."

> Read more about the Forum’s citizen panel program.

> Read the announcement from ARCC