As in many developed countries, Canada has undertaken major health care system reforms in order to deal with chronic disease and cost control. However, the breadth and complexity of these changes make them difficult to design and implement. “Often, the results do not meet expectations, in spite of the resources implemented,” stated Denis, for whom the key lies in the health system’s ability to adapt.

The aim of work of the level 1 chair is to identify the levers that will allow systems to increase their capacity for transformation. “By having an awareness of the challenges and complexity of the transformation processes that have to be taken into account for a reform, we are giving the reform better chances of succeeding,” stated the researcher.

The reforms carried out in Quebec and Canada constitute an ideal area of study for the chair, which is interested in the mechanisms at work at the levels of policy, organizations and health professionals. It will study, among other things, the role doctors and intermediary organizations, such as the Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS), play in reforms. The results will be compared to other reforms carried out in England, Scotland and the Netherlands.

This new Canada research chair benefits from $1.4M of funding over a seven-year period. Its work follows on that of the preceding research chair that Denis held, on the governance and transformation of health care organizations. This new chair will allow the professor to continue to train the next generation of researchers in the study of health care systems.

About Jean-Louis Denis

Jean-Louis Denis is a professor in the Department of Health Management, Evaluation and Policy at the Université de Montréal’s School of Public Health (ESPUM). He is also a regular researcher at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM).

Since March 2017, Denis has sat on the scientific and steering committee of France’s Agence nationale d'appui à la performance des établissements sanitaires et médicaux-sociaux (ANAP). He has chaired the scientific committee of the INESSS since January 2017. He was the Canada Research Chair for the Governance and Transformation of Health Care Organizations, which ended in May of 2017.

From 2009 to 2012, Denis chaired the Advisory Committee of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). He has been a member of the Canadian Academy of the Sciences and Humanities of the Royal Society of Canada since 2002 and a member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences since 2009. He taught at the École nationale d'administration publique from 2010 to 2016.