Panning for Population Gold: 20 Years of Research at MCHP

This session started with Dr. Marchessault presenting highlights from her research project, "The Manitoba Centre for Health Policy: A Case Study" (see pages 29-43 of this Special Issue). Semi-structured interviews with 28 participants revealed that a multitude of factors were involved in establishing MCHP. Donald Orchard, then Minister of Health for Manitoba, and Deputy Minister Frank Maynard initiated discussions about creating a research centre. They were motivated by a need for information to guide decisions they faced in an era of financial pressure, by influential presentations from figures including Dr. Fraser Mustard and by the international reputation of Drs. Noralou Roos and Leslie Roos. They saw the benefit of having information come from a reliable source outside of government and wanted to "put some science behind some of the decisions we were making." Mr. Orchard was willing to take the political risk in order to advance healthcare in Manitoba. Fortunately, Manitoba had excellent electronic records of the population and their health services use - data that the Rooses had been working with for 15 years, achieving exemplary scholarship. Manitoba was small enough that the entire data system was manageable given the computing power of the day. Small size also facilitated cooperation among managers of different sectors. Leadership from Dr. Brian Postl, head of the University of Manitoba's Department of Community Health Sciences, Dr. John Wade, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and Dr. Arnold Naimark, president of the University of Manitoba, helped establish an appropriate budget and agenda for research projects, as well as systems to protect academic freedom to publish without government interference. The structure of the MCHP advisory board balances university and government interests, and the process of negotiating research topics ensures that questions of relevance to the government are addressed while taking advantage of the strengths of the data system.