New assessment focuses on measuring return on health research investments

Return on investment (ROI) stemming from Canadian health research is the focus on a major new assessment by the Canadian Academy of Health Research (CAHS). The assessment will be conducted over the next 12 months to determine the best metrics for measuring ROI of health research from all sectors and funding organizations from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and provincial governments to pharmaceutical firms and not-for-profit organizations.

"A lot of people are grappling with this (ROI on health research) from government and industry to volunteer organizations," says CAHS past-president Dr Paul Armstrong. "There has not been a full public discussion of this even though public money is flowing into health research."

CAHS has lined up a slate of 21 sponsors for the assessment, which has a price tag of more than $500,000. The assessment panel will be headed by Dr Cy Frank, co-vice chair of the Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute and inaugural scientific director of the Canadian Institute of Health Research's Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA). Once fully populated, the panel will be composed of 10 to 12 members, many drawn from the international community.

"We hope this assessment will resonate nationally and internationally," says Armstrong. "It's a tricky issue and we need to tackle it."

As the newest of the academies under the umbrella of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), the CAHS has been working to build up a strong base of supporters to underwrite expert panel assessments on issues considered high priority to the health research community. Due to restrictions on CCA's funding, each of the three CCA academies must raise their own funding for assessments required by their research communities.

Armstrong says the current arrangement between the CCA and member academies is cause for concern. The CAHS has struck a task force which Armstrong says will examine "how the academies can be better engaged and collaborate with the Council".

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