Service-based funding and pay for performance: will incentive payments give Canadian healthcare the quality boost it needs?

"Pay fo performance" and "service-based funding" are fast-growing international trends, rapidly becoming dominant models in American and British healthcare. Now they're a bigger role in years to come. This reality led the Canadian Health Services Research foundation (CHSRF) to organize its third annual CEO forum on the subject in February 2009.

A Foot in Both Camps: Graduate Voices at the Interface of Applied Health Services Research, Policy and Decision-making.

The Regional Training Centres (RTCs) have established a new, non-traditional model of applied health services research training. Graduates report that the programs provide an academic "home" where they can pursue their health and nursing services research interests while engaging with decision-makers. This discussion paper shares perspectives from eight RTC graduates about their lives and careers at the interface of applied health and nursing services research, policy and decision-making, in particular, training in a novel graduate program, building lasting connections among researchers, policy makers and managers and acting as liaisons among these communities.

Organizational value in enhancing individual research use capacity: a joint evaluation project led by EXTRA and SEARCH Canada.

Evidence-informed decision-making supports high-quality, efficient healthcare. Programs such as SEARCH Classic (Swift Efficient Application of Research in Community Health) and EXTRA (Executive Training for Research Application) give health system decision-makers the skills and experience required to apply the best evidence to their work. But effectively leading change in how evidence comes to bear on the overall management and delivery of care requires strategies aimed at whole organizations and systems.