Morris Barer

Morris

Emeritus Faculty, Centre for Health Services and Policy Research
Emeritus Professor, UBC School of Population and Public Health

morris.barer@ubc.ca
(604) 822-5992


News

Morris L. Barer was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada on December 20, 2023.

Profile

Morris L. Barer is Emeritus Professor in the Health Services and Policy Division of the School of Population and Public Health. He was the inaugural Scientific Director of the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research (one of the thirteen Canadian Institutes of Health Research). He was the founding Director of the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, serving from inception in 1990 to 2001, and again from 2007 through 2012. Dr. Barer has served on the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Advisory Committee on Health Services, as senior editor for Health Economics with the journal Social Science and Medicine, as a member and Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (and its predecessor the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation [CHSRF]). Dr. Barer delivered the Justice Emmett Hall Memorial Foundation lecture in 2004, and was the recipient of the Health Services Research Advancement Award (from CHSRF) in 2006. He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Read more about his career in a biography published up his retirement: An Accidental Career

Education

PhD, Economics, University of British Columbia
MBA, University of British Columbia
BSc, Mathematics, University of British Columbia

Research Interests

  • Physician resource policy; patterns of use of physician services; implications of changes in methods of physician remuneration
  • Health human resources – scopes of practice, recruitment/retention
  • Access to care, wait lists and wait times
  • The effects of an aging population
  • Health care financing
  • Pharmaceutical policy (drug promotion and regulation)
  • Use of health care services, particularly by seniors
  • Health care “zombies” (seemingly obvious truths about health care that have no evidentiary basis, but persist anyway)

Current Projects

  • Exit Strategies – The Timing and Impacts of Physician Retirement

Affiliations and Awards

  • Founding Director, UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research
  • Inaugural Scientific Director, CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research
  • Former Member, Federal-Provincial-Territorial Advisory Committee on Health Services
  • Former Senior Editor, Health Economics with Social Science and Medicine
  • Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
  • Health Services Research Advancement Award, Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (2006)
  • Emmett Hall Memorial Lecturer, The Justice Emmett M. Hall Memorial Foundation, Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (2004)

Recent Publications

Hedden L, Ahuja MA, Lavergne MR, McGrail KM, Law MR, Cheng L, Barer ML. How long does it take patients to find a new primary care physician when theirs retires: a population-based, longitudinal study. Hum Resour Health. 2021 Jul 23;19(1):92. Read more

Hedden L, Munro S, McGrail KM, Law MR, Bourgeault IL, Barer ML. Is attending birth dying out? Trends in obstetric care provision among primary care physicians in British Columbia. Can Fam Physician. 2019 Dec;65(12):901-909. Read more

Berg S, Sheps S, Barer M, Wong ST, McGregor M, MacNab YC. The Experience of Family Physicians and Home Health Staff Involved in an Intervention to Increase Patient-Related Collaboration. Can J Aging. 2019 Dec;38(4):493-506. Read more

Hedden L, Lavergne MR, McGrail KM, Law MR, Bourgeault IL, McCracken R, Barer ML. Trends in Providing Out-of-Office, Urgent After-Hours, and On-Call Care in British Columbia. Ann Fam Med. 2019 Mar;17(2):116-124. Read more

Hedden L, Lavergne MR, McGrail KM, Law MR, Cheng L, Ahuja MA, Barer ML. Will the Real Physician Retirees Please Stand Up? Healthc Policy. 2018 Nov;14(2):32-39. Read more

Lavergne MR, Hedden L, Law M, McGrail K, Ahuja M, Barer M. The impact of the 2008/2009 financial crisis on specialist physician activity in Canada. Health Econ. 2018 Jun 19. [Epub ahead of print] Read more

Hedden L, Lavergne MR, McGrail KM, Law MR, Cheng L, Ahuja MA, Barer ML. Patterns of physician retirement and pre-retirement activity: a population-based cohort study. CMAJ. 2017 Dec 11;189(49):E1517-E1523. Read more

Hedden L, Barer M, McGrail K, Law M, Bourgeault I. In British Columbia, the supply of primary care physicians grew, but their rate of clinical activity declined. Health Aff (Millwood). 2017 Nov;36(11):1904-1911. Read more

Barer M, Stoddart G, McGrail K, McLeod C, editors. An Undisciplined Economist: Robert G. Evans on Health Economics, Health Care Policy, and Population Health. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press; 2016. Read more

Barer M, Engelhardt M, Hedden L, Mooney D. Contested Ground: Why are some policies healthy and others not? Conference Summary. Vancouver (BC): UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research; 2016. Read more

Lavergne MR, Barer M, Law MR, Wong ST, Peterson S, McGrail K. Examining regional variation in health care spending in British Columbia, Canada. Health Policy. 2016;120(7):739–48. Read more

McGrail K, Lavergne R, Lewis SJ, Peterson SL, Barer M, Garrison SR. Classifying physician practice style: a new approach using administrative data in British Columbia. Med Care. 2015 Mar;53(3):276-82. Read more

Hedden L, Barer ML, Cardiff K, McGrail KM, Law MR, Bourgeault IL. The implications of the feminization of the primary care physician workforce on service supply: a systematic review. Hum Resour Health. 2014 Jun 4;12:32. Read more

Barer ML, Evans RG, Hedden L. Two wings and a prayer: should Canada make it easier for Canadian doctors trained abroad to enter practice here? Healthc Policy. 2014 May;9(4):12-9. Read more

Barer ML, Evans RG, Hedden L. False hope for Canadians who study medicine abroad. CMAJ. 2014 Apr 15;186(7):552. Read more

Older publications