Andrew DScarffe
Western University, Canada
Title: INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS IN ONTARIO ACADEMIC HEALTH SCIENCE CENTRES: NATURE, DRIVERS, BARRIERS AND BENEFITS
Biography
Biography: Andrew DScarffe
Abstract
This study explored the nature of international agreements (IAs) within Ontario Academic Health Science Centres (OAHSC) and presents the exploratory findings to create a basis for an academically defensible body of literature on the topic. In light of increasing healthcare costs, the Ontario health system needs to employ mechanisms that decrease expenditures, as well as strategies that have the potential to generate ancillary revenue. However, given the public nature of the provincial health system, these mechanisms and strategies should not be solely evaluated with respect to financial return on investments, but also evaluated with respect to the value that is delivered to the population. Further, as OAHSCs continue to broaden their market to emerging and developing economies, it is increasingly important to identify how, and if, these agreements contribute valuably to their respective OAHSC and provincial health system.
For the purposes of this study, IAs were defined as “hospital agreements with foreign governments or organizations for the provision of health-care related consulting and other services” (; these agreements exclude conditions for international patient services [IPS] (i.e., solicitation of international patients). The results from this study explore the unique drivers, barriers and provincial/ organizational benefits of pursuing IAs amongst OAHSC. In publically funded health systems, it is important to understand the different elements of IAs and be able to identify the return on investment and/or impact that these agreements are having on the systems’ ability to provide high quality care to local patients; this is only possible after close consideration of the drivers, barriers and benefits of IAs.