Posted on Dec. 15: The delicate art of dancing with porcupines

Developing closer relationships with decision makers can be a balancing act for researchers who need to maintain their ability to conduct independent, rigorous and critical analysis, according to health economist Steve Morgan.

By improving the exchange of knowledge between researchers and decision makers, he says this will contribute to better, more relevant research.

Morgan will explore pharmaceutical policy issues, by looking at British Columbia's new PharmaCare Policy, at a seminar at McMaster University. The talk, entitled “The Delicate Art of Dancing with Porcupines: Learning to Appreciate the Finer Points of BC PharmaCare Policy”, will take place Wednesday, Dec. 17 in the Health Sciences Centre, Rm. 3N5B from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Morgan is a health economist at the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research and a consultant to both the federal and provincial governments of Canada.

The Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis conducted interviews with 17 current and former decision makers in British Columbia, including the minister of health services. The interviews were conducted to evaluate the motives and objectives of the provincial government's Fair PharmaCare program.

The seminar will review the policy change and policy-makers perspectives on it and will discuss the plan developed to produce a rigorous and independent evaluation.

Morgan conducted post-doctoral training at the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analyses at McMaster. His current research focuses on a wide range of pharmaceutical policy issues, including the determinants of pharmaceutical expenditure growth, insurance programs and issues surrounding the financing or and priority setting for new health care technologies.