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The Director General and CEO of the Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Health Centre, Dr. Arthur T. Porter announced today the launch of the Institute for Strategic Analysis and Innovation (ISAI)'s website:

"ISAI was established to promote discussion about important health policy issues," says Dr. Porter. "The Health Innovation Forum website we've developed in partnership with Parkhurst Publishing allows us to disseminate proceedings from the events we host and recruit feedback from Canadians interested in shaping health care for the future."

ISAI was formed in May 2007 as a public policy institute within the MUHC. The Honourable Bernard Lord, former Premier of New Brunswick, is ISAI's first scholar-in-residence. "Our objective is to provide an opportunity for health care providers and administrators to participate in forming public policy rather than simply responding to changes after they occur," he says.

ISAI's activities began with a round table discussion among physicians from across Canada who have taken on major challenges to change the way health care is provided, whether by introducing private services or ensuring patient safety. Highlights from the discussion are on the website. "The participants spoke very openly and honestly about some serious problems facing our system. I look forward to the response from readers on the website," says Dr. Porter, who co-chaired the event alongside Mr. Lord.

Over the next three years, ISAI will produce further round-table consultations, commissioned articles, case studies of things that work in Canadian health care and an annual conference. The theme for this year's conference is The Canadian Health Care System Comes of Age: Making Canadians live healthier longer. "It dovetails in a very timely way with discussions that have been initiated recently by the Government of Quebec and other governments on building a sustainable health care system," says Dr. Porter.

"The goal in all our activities," says Susan Usher, director of Parkhurst's health policy division, "is to bring stakeholders in the health field together to explore approaches that respond to current needs and consider the full range of possibilities available for the future."

"Materials produced through the ISAI will be posted on the website in order to disseminate our work and involve a wide range of health care providers, users and administrators in the discussion," says Mr. Lord. Readers are prompted to comment on each article and to pursue discussion of particular points in the website's Forum section, moderated by Mr. Lord and Dr. Porter.

Abour ISAI
The Institute for Strategic Analysis and Innovation (ISAI) was established as an independently funded institute within the MUHC to promote discussion and debate on public policy options to improve health care in Canada. Financial support is solicited from government and private sector stakeholders as well as through specific bequests to the MUHC Foundation.

About the Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Health Centre
The Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Health Centre (MUHC) is a comprehensive academic health institution with an international reputation for excellence in clinical programs, research and teaching. The MUHC is a merger of five teaching hospitals affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ — the Montreal Children’s, Montreal General, Royal Victoria, and Montreal Neurological hospitals, as well as the Montreal Chest Institute. Building on the tradition of medical leadership of the founding hospitals, the goal of the MUHC is to provide patient care based on the most advanced knowledge in the health care field, and to contribute to the development of new knowledge.

About Parkhurst
Parkhurst Publishing is a Montreal-based medical publisher with a 25-year history producing high-quality, broadly read medical magazines. Their three physician publications, Doctor’s Review, Parkhurst Exchange and National Review of Medicine, reach over 40,000 doctors across the country. A fourth, Oncology Exchange, is published for cancer specialists. Parkhurst also produces a range of publication for patients living with demanding diseases. Parkhurst's Health Policy Division has been involved for the past 12 years in bringing stakeholder together to examine aspects of Canada’s health care system for academic and government organizations as well as healthcare companies.