As of May 5, 2003

National Healthcare Leadership Conference

Edmonton, AB
June 9-10, 2003

Host and Presiding Officer:

Sheila Weatherill
President and CEO
Capital Health Region
Edmonton, AB
  

Monday, June 9
0830 Conference Opening and Welcome
0845  The Honourable A. Anne McLellan
Minister of Health, Government of Canada
  Anne McLellan was elected to her third term as Member of Parliament for Edmonton West in 2000 and appointed Minister of Health by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in 2002. Ms. McLellan has also served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Minister of Natural Resources and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians.
  Ms. McLellan holds a law degree from Dalhousie University and a Master of Law degree from King’s College, University of London. Ms. McLellan taught law at the University of New Brunswick before moving to Edmonton in 1980 to take a position as Associate Professor of Law at the University of Alberta. She served as Associate Dean of the University’s Faculty of Law 1985-1987 and as Acting Dean 1991-1992.
0920  The Health Care in Canada Survey (Presentation and Panel Discussion)
Don Guy
Vice President, POLLARA
Toronto, ON
  The Health Care in Canada (HCIC) survey conducted by POLLARA is the most comprehensive annual survey of the public and providers on key health care issues. The intent and spirit of the survey is to gauge the need for change, and to provide direction to government on where change is needed, and the options supported by stakeholders of the system.
  A panel of the partners in the Health Care in Canada Survey will discuss and debate the findings of the 2003 survey. What re the expectations of the public and providers? Are the public and providers ready for change? Is the public more ready for change than providers, policy-makers and politicians think?
  POLLARA provides research-based counsel on corporate image, strategic position, public affairs, marketing and communication to a wide range of companies, institutions and industry associations in North American. POLLARA is the official pollster for the Liberal Party of Canada.
1015  Break
1045  A Cure for Hardening of the Categories: the Future of Health Care in Canada
Charles E. Pascal, PhD
Executive Director
The Atkinson Charitable Foundation
Toronto, ON
 

Dr. Pascal will make the case for implementing the Romanow Commission recommendations and at the same time ensuring that we move from illness to well-being, from a sole preoccupation with the healthcare system to a concern for all the determinants of healthy outcomes for Canadians.

  Dr. Pascal taught psychology at McGill University in Montreal before moving to Toronto to accept a position with the University of Toronto and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He was appointed Deputy Minister of the Premier’s Council on Health, Well-being and Social Justice in January 1991. Chaired by Premier Bob Rae, the council was a policy body designed to provide advice and research to the government and the public on building a just, healthy, and fairer society. He later served as Deputy Minister, Community and Social Services and Deputy Minister, Education and Training.
1200  Lunch
1330  An Introduction to the Canadian Forces Health Services
  Brigadier-General Lise Mathieu, CHE
Director General Health Services / Commander
Canadian Forces Medical Group
  The Canadian Forces Health Services (CFHS) is the designated health care provider for Canada's military personnel, delivering medical and dental services at military installations across Canada and overseas. Providing this service holds many challenges unique to the military environment-and others, like time, people, and money are shared by the civilian health care sector. To address these challenges, the CFHS is currently implementing an ambitious and innovative health care reform process. Its goal is to develop a patient-oriented health service that better meets the needs of CF members at home and abroad.
  Throughout her career, Brigadier-General Mathieu has held various command, staff officer and health care management positions in Canada and abroad. She was the Liaison Officer between military and civilian health authorities during the Oka crisis to ensure that medical support and emergency arrangements were available, Operations Officer of 1 Canadian Field Hospital during the Persian Gulf war, and Executive Assistant to the Chief of the Defence Staff.
  Promoted to her current rank in 2000, Brigadier-General Mathieu is an Officer of the Order of Military Merit and holds a Master of Health Administration from Universite de Montreal.
1350 Enhancing Primary Health Care Delivery to Canadian Forces Members
  Colonel Brian O’Rourke, Pharm D
Deputy Chief of Staff—Health Care Delivery
  One of the main thrusts of Rx 2000, the ongoing reform of the CF Health Services, is Primary Care Renewal. This presentation will provide insight into this important initiative and highlight several key areas of success.
  Colonel O’Rourke oversees all aspects of the care delivered to CF personnel in Canada. A pharmacist for most of his career, Colonel O’Rourke has been a driving force in the ongoing reform of the CF Health Services.
1430  Break
1500  Afghanistan—Operational Health Services in a Challenging Environment
  Major Dan Vouriot, MD
Senior Medical Officer - Op APOLLO
  During the period February to August 2002, the Canadian Forces deployed some 1,400 soldiers to war-torn Afghanistan in support of the US-led coalition against terrorism. This presentation will highlight a few of the many challenges faced by CF Health Services personnel in meeting the health care needs of our land force in a unique and extremely austere operational environment.
  Major Vouriot is an Emergency Medicine Specialist who served with the Canadian Forces for the period July 97 to present. As Senior Medical Officer for the deployment of the 3 PPCLI Battle Group to Afghanistan, Major Vouriot and his team of military health care professionals faced the challenge of providing quality health care in a hostile combat environment.
15:30 Veterans Independence Program
  Verna E. Bruce
Associate Deputy Minister
Veterans Affairs Canada
  The Veterans Independence Program (VIP) is the largest national home and community care program in Canada and is part of the comprehensive response to the needs of this special group of Canadians. Ms. Bruce will illustrate how home care has, for veterans, greatly reduced the need for long-term institutional care.
  A native of Prince Edward Island, Ms. Bruce designed and created PEI’s first integrated provincial program for home care in the 1980s. At the Deputy Minister level in Prince Edward Island, she served in Provincial Treasury, Management Board, Intergovernmental Affairs and Higher Education and Health and Social Services.
  Ms. Bruce is Chair of the Executive Committee of the Vanier Institute of the Family and a member of the board of Child Alliance. She has been an active member of a variety of professional and community organizations.
1600  Adjournment for the day
18:30 Presidents’ Dinner and Awards Night
Tuesday, June 10
0830  Health Care as Good Economic Policy AND Good Social Policy
  Aubrey J Tingle, MD, PhD, FRCP(C)
President & CEO, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and
Interim Chair, Canada West Health Innovation Council, Canada Health Innovation Council
Vancouver, BC
Michael Mendelson
Senior Scholar
Caledon Institute of Social Policy
Ottawa, ON
  The report of the Alberta Premier’s Advisory Council on Health, A Framework for Reform, (the Mazankowski Report) noted that the majority of funding for health care comes from provincial budgets and so health care is almost always viewed as a cost—sometime even a tremendous burden on the provincial budget.
  But at the same time, the report authors continued, health care is a huge industry. Thousands of doctors, nurses and other health providers earn good incomes and contribute significantly to our economy. Our leading medical research centres attract some of the best and brightest researchers and physicians to the country, and help build Canada’s potential in a knowledge-based economy. From purchasing equipment and supplies, to building new facilities, hiring contract workers, and employing thousands of support workers, healthcare is a major player in Canada’s economy.
  Dr Aubrey James Tingle was the founding Chair of the Coalition for Health Research in British Columbia, a voluntary alliance of stakeholders that developed the vision and plan for the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. In 2001, he was appointed as the Founding President & CEO of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research with $110 million funding and a provincial mandate from the Government of British Columbia to build BC’s capacity to compete nationally and internationally in health research. More recently, Dr. Tingle has served as interim chair of the Canada West Health Innovation Council and of the Canada Health Innovation Council, spearheading an inter-provincial and national initiative to engage Canadians in exploring the potential for our health system to also become an engine of economic growth.
  Michael Mendelson was Deputy Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Cabinet Office in Ontario prior to his appointment to the Caledon Institute. He has served as an Assistant Deputy Minister in Ontario’s Ministries of Finance, Community Services and Health. In Manitoba he was Secretary to Treasury Board and Deputy Minister of Social Services. He was also Visiting Fellow, Social Policy with Human Resources Development Canada, the ministry responsible for most social programs in the government of Canada.
1030  Break
1100 Concurrent Sessions
  Session I: Community Governance for Community Healthcare
  Louise Simard, QC
President and CEO
Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations
Regina, SK
  Fostering citizen participation in health services demands times, resources and commitment. Is it worth it? Louise Simard will explain why citizen and community involvement is vital to the long-term success of our publicly-funded health care system.
  Saskatchewan was the first province to regionalize its health services and also the first to make a province-wide commitment to primary health care. Louise Simard will describe Saskatchewan’s successes and challenges with community involvement in regional planning and program development and with regional health board elections and the potential for citizen input in Saskatchewan’s newly reconfigured health regions.
  After service in the government of Saskatchewan as a public servant, a member of the legislative assembly and a senior member of Cabinet, Louise Simard returned to the practice of law and was senior counsel with Saskatchewan’s largest law firm prior to her appointment to SAHO.
  While in government Ms. Simard held the positions of Minister of Health and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women and other portfolios, and spearheaded the development and implementation of health reform in Saskatchewan. Ms. Simard is President of the Medical Council of Canada.
  Session II: Unfinished Business: A Framework for Organizing Care Delivery Systems for People with Ongoing Care Needs Across Canada
  Marcus J. Hollander, PhD
President
Hollander Analytical Services Ltd
Victoria, BC
  The Romanow and Kirby reports only focus on short-term home care. This leaves out of the policy debates hundreds of thousands of people across Canada with ongoing care needs such as seniors, persons with disabilities, persons with chronic mental health needs, and children with special needs and their families. This presentation provides an empirically-based, best practices framework for organizing care delivery systems at the provincial and regional levels that has the potential to simultaneously increase the quality of care and reduce costs.
  Marcus Hollander has over twenty-five years of experiences as a health services researcher and administrator. He was Co-Director of the National Evaluation of the Cost-Effectiveness of Home Care, a $1.5 million research project funded by the Health Transition Fund, Health Canada, and honourary academic appointments at Simon Fraser University (Gerontology) and the University of British Columbia (Health Administration).
  Session III: Health Services Leadership
  Pierre Sauvé
Director, Knowledge Transfer
Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
Ottawa, ON
  Irving Gold
Assistant Director, Knowledge Transfer
Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
Ottawa, ON
  "At the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation we know that the healthcare system will improve if decision makers make better use of research. There is evidence to prove this, and we have a few programs in the works that will improve evidence-based decision-making. Our knowledge brokering initiative is all about linking researchers and decision makers at all stages of the research process, from developing questions to disseminating results. EXTRA, our Executive Training for Research Application program, will focus on training nurse, physician and health system executives in understanding and using research. Our presentation will tell you more about these projects."
1200  Lunch
1330  Efficiency, Accountability and Choice in Health Care
Janice Gross Stein
Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and Negotiation
Department of Political Science, and
Director, Munk Centre for International Studies
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
  “My eight-five-year-old mother was hospitalized last year after she shattered her hip . . . After the surgery, my sister and I began a frantic search for a suitable place where she could live in safety and with dignity.  On the seventh day after the procedure, the discharge coordinator caught me in the corridor . . . and wanted to know what arrangements we had been able to make  . . . ‘Your mother is now a negative statistic for this unit,’ she said in frustration.  ‘Every additional day that she remains in hospital, she drives our efficiency rating down.’”  (Janice Gross Stein, The Cult of Efficiency)
  In The Cult of Efficiency, Professor Stein describes how the discussion of efficiency in the delivery of public goods such as health care and education has risen to prominence in post-industrial society.  She argues that efficiency becomes a cult when it becomes an end rather than a means, a value more important than other values, and when we no longer ask the questions, “efficiency at what?” or “for whom?”
  Janice Gross Stein provides regular news commentary for CBC and TV Ontario.  A University Professor, the highest academic rank, recognizing exceptional scholarly achievement and preeminence in a particular field of knowledge, she is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the author of more than eighty books and articles.   She was awarded the Edgar Furniss Prize for outstanding contribution to the study of international security and civil-military education.
1430 Break
1500 Concurrent Sessions
  Session IV: Repeat of Session I
  Session V: Leading Change in Seniors’ Mental Health Services Across Canada
  David K. Conn, MD
Psychiatrist-in-Chief
Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
Toronto, ON, and
Co-Chair, Canadian Coalition for Seniors Mental Health
  Shelly P. Haber
Project Director
Canadian Coalition for Seniors Mental Health
Toronto, ON
  The purpose of this new national coalition of leading organizations is to improve the mental health of seniors living in long term care settings.  Dr. Conn and Ms. Haber will describe the conditions that created a need to establish a National Coalition, how the coalition evolved, and its activities to influence change.
  David Conn’s interests include the psychiatric consequences of brain disease in the elderly, nursing home psychiatry and pharmacoepidemiology.  He is the co-author of Practical Psychiatry in the Long-Term Care Facility:  A Handbook for Staff, and is the Medical Director of Telehealth Services at Baycrest.
  Shelly Haber is a graduate of the University of Toronto and a health care consultant.  She has spent the past seven years in various environments creating health system networks for the purpose of influencing change.
  Session VI: Evolution and Revolution in Health Care Administration Education
  David Fine
Chief Executive Officer
UAB Health System
Birmingham, AL
  The manner in which healthcare executives are educated at the early, mid, and advanced career stages will be defined and contrasted with other professions. A process to develop core competencies for healthcare executives and an approach to leadership development in the health sector will be introduced. The education outcomes of classroom and practice experiences at various career stages will be discussed.
  David Fine has 28 years of experience as a health care executive, including 18 years as chief executive officer of university hospitals, multi-hospital systems, medical groups, and managed care organizations. Since 1999 he has served as Chief Executive Officer of the UAB Health System, a joint venture of the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation and The University of Alabama Board of Trustees. The Health System manages publicly and privately owned healthcare delivery assets, comprising some $1.3 billion in net patient revenues, 11,000 employees and 800 physicians.
1600 Renewing the Heart of Health Care
John B. Izzo, PhD
Consultant and author on leadership development and managing change
Vancouver, BC
  Health care is a unique “business” where a deep sense of mission is both the driver of passion and the best predictor of success.  Yet many healthcare organizations are experiencing a loss of soul and purpose through years of reform, restraint and restructuring.
  John Izzo is one of North America’s most sought after professional speakers, advisors and retreat leaders.  He has shared his expertise and wisdom on life transition and leadership renewal to hundreds of healthcare organizations, Fortune 500 companies, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations and national and international associations.
  John Izzo holds a doctorate in Organizational Communication and Behavior from the University of Chicago, and is the author of Values Shift:  The New Work Ethic and What It Means for Business (Prentice Hall).
1700 Conference adjourns
The Canadian Forces Health Services (CRHS) will host a display of operational medical and dental capability in Exhibition Hall B throughout the conference. The display will demonstrate how the CFHS provides care in an operational setting from the point of wounding to first surgical intervention.