A unique partnership at Queen’s University has led to the creation of a series of conferences on healthcare – conferences that could lead to significant and lasting change in Canada’s healthcare system.

The Queen’s Faculty of Health Sciences, the Monieson Centre at the Queen’s School of Business, and the School of Policy Studies have compiled a star-studded, international roster of speakers for the Toward a Canadian Healthcare Strategy conference in June. The list of speakers includes the Right Honorable Paul Martin; Queen’s professor Don Drummond and Canadian Medical Association President-elect designate and Queen’s professor Chris Simpson.

“A university is well-suited to organizing this conference and starting a different type of dialogue for strategic change,” says Scott Carson, Director, Monieson Centre. “We should be able to move forward a long term vision and as a group are focused on what can be done about the problems and issues in healthcare.”

The Queen’s Health Policy Change Conference Series will advance these issues over three annual events beginning in June 2013.

“We want to create a template for sustainable change,” says Richard Reznick, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences. “The notion that Canadian healthcare is a world leader is justifiably being challenged. Canadian healthcare is expensive and the outcomes are just passable. As a group, we want to facilitate the process of change.”

The first conference, Toward a Canadian Healthcare Strategy, introduces the potential for a strategy-based approach to improve the sustainability of healthcare and help control the rising costs to governments. Subsequent conference themes include change management strategies for a balanced approach to acute and chronic healthcare and understanding the political dimensions of healthcare transformation. The conference series is part of a larger initiative that also includes collaborative research projects, books and white papers to advance the healthcare policy discussion.

“The ultimate benchmark of success is developing a process of change, and Queen’s can be a catalyst in this change,” says Dr. Reznick. “We simply need to do a better job with our healthcare dollar.”

The conference runs June 13 and 14 at the St. Andrew’s Club in Toronto.