2021 | Working Together While Staying Apart

Care Integration in a Brave New World

33rd Annual Health Policy Conference | March 8-9, 2021

The Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) held its 33rd annual health policy conference virtually on March 8 and 9, 2021.

Integrated care systems are shifting the way that health and social care are organized, delivered and paid for. Challenges of medical and social complexity are creating a population increasingly inadequately served by organizations and providers operating autonomously. The effects of COVID-19 brought these problems into stark relief, in particular by exposing the problems that fragmented health and social care systems face in adapting to crises that require urgent and/or collaborative responses. These problems have had particularly pernicious effects on the most acutely affected among us – ethnic minorities, Indigenous populations, seniors living in residential care facilities, those living in rural and remote communities, those living in poverty, and people with the most complex health care issues. Those most in need would see the greatest benefit from a coordinated health and social care capacity and capability.

The 2021 CHSPR Conference brought together research and policy experts, students, patients, and care practitioners from across the health care and social systems, to examine barriers, experiences and evidence from elsewhere, and options and priorities for moving us to a more efficient and effective integrated care system. Key topics included physical and virtual models for integrating care, workforce skill and training requirements, regulatory barriers and solutions, and funding and financing models that are able to align system goals with personal and organizational incentives.

Download the conference summary report


Program

The full conference was recorded and is available to watch. Selected slides are also available for download from the links below.

Day 1: Monday, March 8


9:00 am | Welcome

Sabrina Wong, UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research
Coast Salish Elder Roberta Price, Snuneymuxw and Cowichan First Nations


9:10 am | Keynote

[Watch the recording of the welcome and keynote]
This keynote set the stage by explaining what we mean by integrated care and why it has been difficult to move in this direction.
Chair: Jason Sutherland, UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research

Can we counter gravity? A policy perspective on integrated care
Speaker: Pierre-Gerlier Forest, University of Calgary
Respondent: Coast Salish Elder Roberta Price, Snuneymuxw and Cowichan First Nations
Respondent: Tess Romain, Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network


10:40 am | Integration of care: What do we know?

[Watch the recording of the panel]
This panel provided international and Canadian examples of where an integration of care approach has been successful.
Chair: Michael Law, UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research

Interdisciplinary clinical care network for post COVID recovery: A BC example
Speaker: Adeera Levin, University of BC and Providence Health Care [Slides]

International learnings from case studies: Organizational practice combined with jurisdictional practice
Speaker: Walter Wodchis, Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners [Slides]

The role of digital health in integrated care delivery
Speaker: Carolyn Steele Gray, Bridgepoint Collaboratory for Research and Innovation, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute [Slides]


12:15 pm | Poster session I

Day 2: Tuesday, March 9


12:15 pm | Poster session II

1:00 pm | Welcome

Sabrina Wong, UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research


1:10 pm | Keynote

[Watch the recording of the welcome and keynote]
This keynote focused on the importance of policy enablers coupled with collaborative local integration, and share work from New Zealand on the necessary and sufficient conditions for integration.
Chair: Kim McGrail, UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research

The do’s and don’ts of nurturing local collaborative capacity to support health sector integration: Reflections on recent experiences in New Zealand and beyond
Speaker: Tim Tenbensel, University of Auckland [Slides]
Respondent: Mary Beaucage, Can-SOLVE Chronic Kidney Disease Network Patient Governance Circle


2:35 pm | What is needed to facilitate integration?

[Watch the recording of the panel and the closing]
This panel provided examples of addressing structural issues and lack of integration from primary care and long term care in BC, and opportunities for research.
Chair: Alex Singer, University of Manitoba

Influencing organizational collaboration within BC
Speaker: Morgan Price, University of BC

Long term care: The next chapter
Speaker: Jennifer Baumbusch, University of BC

Accelerating integrated care through research innovation
Speaker: Jessica Nadigel, CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research

Respondent: Kevin Turner, patient partner


3:45 pm | Closing

Chair: Morris Barer, UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research
Speaker: Steven Lewis, health policy consultant