The Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) Annual Conference was held May 9 – 12, 2011 in Halifax. CAHSPR is a multidisciplinary association dedicated to improving health and health care by advancing the quality, relevance and application of research on health services and health policy.

The meeting attracted a record breaking 490 registrants including approximately 100 attendees from Nova Scotia. As well as researchers and trainees from health and social sciences from as far away as Australia and New Zealand, this conference attracted practicing clinicians, decision makers, business representatives and students from Political Science, Health Informatics, Public Administration, Community Health and Epidemiology, Nursing, Medicine, Pharmacy and Information Management. Dr. Ingrid Sketris, Professor, College of Pharmacy and Chair in Health Services Research and Steven Lewis, President, Access Consulting Ltd. served as co-chairs of the conference.

Over the four days, participants were able to attend multiple keynote lectures and panels. Keynote speakers included:

• Ken Boessenkool, School of Public Policy, University of Calgary and Senior Counsel, GCI Canada
• Gregory Marchildon, Canada Research Chair, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
• Allan Maslove, School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University
• Richard Alvarez, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Health Infoway
• Hugh MacLeod, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute
• The Honourable Michael Kirby, Chair, Mental Health Commission of Canada
• The Honourable Anne McLellan, Former Deputy Prime Minister, Corporate Counsel, and;
• Andreas Laupacis, Executive Director, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital.

Two of the keynote speakers have long-standing Dalhousie connections:

• Anne McLellan holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Law degree from Dalhousie University, and
• Michael Kirby earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts in Mathematics from Dalhousie University where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. In 1997, he returned to Dalhousie to accept an Honourary Doctorate.

Several Pre-Conference afternoon sessions occurred. “Bridging the Evidence Gap: Providing Access to New Technologies with Evidence Development” was organized by Devidas Menon, Professor, School of Public Health, University of Alberta and Ingrid Sketris. This session dealt with policy approaches taken in Canada and around the world to provide access to promising drugs and non-drug technologies under the condition that additional data needed to assess effectiveness and impact on health care systems are collected.

William Lahey, Director, Health Law Institute, along with Katherine Fierlbeck and Adrian Levy dealt with the timely topic of federalism and the approaching health care accord renewal in “Beyond the ‘Fix for a Generation’: What’s Next for Health Care Federalism?” “Grant Writing 101” an annual workshop for students and new investigators was hosted by CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research. As well, the two CAHSPR theme groups, mental health and primary care, held special sessions and business meetings.
On the three days of the main conference, over 150 concurrent sessions and 118 poster presentations contributed to many lively discussions. Post-event documents including presentations, final program and other materials can be found on the CAHSPR website. Next year’s conference will be held on May 28 – 31 in Montreal, Quebec.