Research hospitals advocate for access to infrastructure funding, boost to CIHR budget

Canada's biggest research hospitals are calling on the federal government to embrace a more activist approach supporting health research by making their institutions eligible for infrastructure spending and boosting support to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). H-10, the recently formed association of Canada's largest academic health centres and HealthcareCAN, an affiliated lobby group, are recommending the creation of a segregated Healthcare Innovation Fund capitalized with $1 billion over five years — an amount scaled back "given the current economic circumstances".

The two groups were on Parliament Hill last month to press their case with science minister Kirsty Duncan and nearly two dozen MPs. In addition to pressing for more research and innovation funding for their members and rallying behind CIHR, discussions were aimed at raising awareness of the importance of academic health centres as sources of knowledge-based jobs and innovative research.

"Federal government funding of research through CIHR has not kept pace with inflation and it is falling increasingly behind the need to support the growing number of talented new health researchers we have been able to attract to Canada through other capacity building measures. In other words, we can attract but not retain." -HealthcareCAN pre-Budget meeting notes

"Academic health centres account for 660,000 knowledge-based jobs and this was an opportunity for the H-10 to showcase what they do," says Bill Thall, president and CEO of HealthcareCAN and an H-10 member. "We want the government to level the playing field for infrastructure by asking for eligibility which will leverage provincial support and hospital foundations. There are plenty of shovel-ready projects and energy retrofits."

Thall points to the public reports of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council which emphasize on the potential for life and health sciences to compete globally. But he contends that a group like H-10 is required to move them further up the government's priority agenda.

"We need a substructure to develop an action plan and we're working on that going into a summit this fall," he says. "We work in collaboration with Research Canada, charity groups and others to make sure our ask is realistic. We also work with CIHR."

H-10 and HealthcareCAN are recommending that CIHR receive an "immediate $150 million" to recover the part of its budget lost to inflation since 2010 and $50 million over two years "to create a bridge for young and mid-career scientists through the current reforms" (R$, January 26/16).

"The primary focus is to get the government behind the stabilization of the traumatized health research patient. There's been a 50% increase in applications (for health research funding) and the core budget for CIHR has been flat since 2010," says Thall. "The first thing you do when the patient is traumatized is stabilize the patient, then decide where to transfer them ... We'll shoot for the 2017 Budget for something more substantial."

HealthcareCAN was formed two years ago through the merger of the Canadian Healthcare Association and the Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations. H-10 is modelled on the U-15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, which Thall says has been extremely helpful during the group's formative stages.

"We're working with U-15. We do not compete with the presidents but we're inspired and informed by their success," says Thall, pointing to U-15's success in advocating for the $1.5-billion Canada First Research Excellence Fund (R$, September 8 & July 29/15).

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