27th Labelle Lecture: “Primary care, secondary data: Learning from policy change in British Columbia”

Dr. Ruth Lavergne will describe the consequences of efforts in British Columbia to change primary care models when she presents the 27^th annual Labelle Lecture on Wednesday Oct. 3, 2018 at 3 pm in the Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning – (MDCL 3020).

Dr. Lavergne, an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, (https://www.sfu.ca/fhs/people/profiles/ruth-lavergne.html) will lecture on the topic “Primary care, secondary data: Learning from policy change in British Columbia” which will provide an overview of research examining primary care policy changes in British Columbia and consider lessons for other jurisdictions.

Dr. Lavergne is a quantitative researcher who uses observational methods and large administrative databases to examine health care delivery. She leads research examining primary care reform and health human resources planning in British Columbia.

She notes that Canadian provinces have taken varied approaches to primary care reform over the past 15 years. Some have implemented widespread changes to models of care delivery, moving to inter-professional team-based care and changing the payment arrangements available to primary care providers. British Columbia, however, sought to strengthen primary care through targeted incentive payments to primary care physicians, with no concurrent changes to models of care.

Dr. Lavergne will discuss research findings about the impact of incentive payments in BC targeting the management of chronic and complex conditions, and describe trends in primary care access within the entire BC population. She will also explore the apparent paradox of having a growing number of primary care physicians in the province at the same time as persistent access challenges. She will also briefly look ahead to future research efforts.

The annual Labelle Lecture was created 27 years ago to honour Roberta Labelle, who was one of the founding members of CHEPA. Her death in 1991 was unexpected, and occurred when broad recognition for her research in health economics was just starting to emerge.

In her memory, CHEPA and what is now the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) collaborated on establishing the Annual Labelle Lectureship Series. In autumn of each year a health services researcher with emerging recognition and an inter-disciplinary approach to research, gives a general interest lecture on a topic in the broadly defined areas of health economics and/or health policy.

The discussant for this year’s Lecture is Dr. Erin Strumpf, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University. (https://www.mcgill.ca/economics/erin-strumpf)

A reception will be held immediately following the lecture in the Farncombe Atrium, 3rd Floor Health Sciences Centre.