IHSPR launched this RFA in February 2005, in partnership with Canada's Provincial and Territorial Ministries of Health, and ICR and IMHA. The purpose of the RFA was to fund research designed to inform the establishment of evidence-based benchmarks for medically acceptable wait times in select clinical areas.
Eight Canadian teams reviewed research evidence of relevance to the establishment of wait time benchmarks for three priority treatment areas: cancer, joint replacement and sight restoration. The research teams synthesized Canadian and international evidence from the available research studies to help answer two main questions:
These syntheses were reported to the Provincial and Territorial Ministries of Health to inform their decision-making ahead of the December 31, 2005 deadline for establishing evidence-based benchmarks, and proved to be a critical form of input. CIHR-prepared summaries of the research syntheses on wait times for cancer, joint replacement and sight restoration, as well as links to the full reports are available.
The eight research teams will continue to investigate priority questions for future research that could be used to further inform the development and refinement of wait time benchmarks. They will deliver their final reports in spring 2006.
While similar research in the areas of cardiac care and diagnostic imaging was also solicited in February, no projects on those areas were funded. IHSPR issued a second call for research for specified clinical areas in December 2005.
