The McGill Observatory on Health and Social Services Reforms was founded jointly by the McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy and the Department of Family Medicine in 2016 with funding from the Faculty of Medicine.

Through its scientific monitoring activities, the Observatory will provide a systematic assessment of the policy process and potential impact of current health systems reforms. Impact indicators will be drawn directly from key stakeholder’s perspectives, thus reflecting not only the government’s priorities, but also other stakeholder’s preoccupations as they emerge in reaction to reforms.

Public dissemination of this monitoring and regular exchanges with practitioners and the public through annual fora will ensure that our focus responds to community needs. Through the involvement of trainees at different academic stages, we will ensure the sustainability of this monitoring initiative.

Mission

The Observatory aims to support and promote evidence-informed health policies through:

The pursuit of a systematic, interdisciplinary scientific program of policy analysis of health reforms and the development and long-term monitoring of impact indicators based on key stakeholders’ perspectives.

The training of the next generation of health services and policy researchers to meet the demands of continuous health systems improvement.

Providing a space to catalyze intersectoral engagement and exchange between the producers of scientific evidence on policy research and the various stakeholders affected by these policies

Goals

  1. Monitor key health systems reforms and develop indicators of their potential impact
  2. Facilitate comparison of health systems performance indicators across provinces and other jurisdictions
  3. Provide trainees with experiential learning opportunities and enriched skills sets allowing them to better meet the demands of constantly evolving health policies and systems.
  4. Accelerate knowledge exchange between health services researchers and key stakeholders: health practitioners, decision-makers, patients and the public.