Queen’s clinician-researcher Michael Green and his collaborator, Rick Glazier at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), have received more than $2 million from Ontario’s Health System Research Fund (HSRF) to support their ongoing study of health system challenges and equitable access to primary health care in the province.

The INSPIRE-PHC2 research program (Innovations Supporting Primary Care Through Research Phase 2) is one of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s HSRF Program Awards.

“We are very pleased to be receiving this support from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care,” says Dr. Green, Head of the Queen’s Department of Family Medicine and the grant’s Nominated Principal Investigator. “This three-year funding will allow us to continue to provide up-to-date evidence on the state of primary health services in Ontario on an ongoing basis, and to provide strong, innovative recommendations to the province so gaps in service can be improved.”

The funded project is a continuation of an earlier three-year HSRF Program Award (2013-2016), helmed by Western University’s Moira Stewart. With this renewed funding, Drs. Green and Glazier will lead a team of more than 30 primary care researchers from across Ontario, with a focus on continued evaluation of innovations in the delivery of primary health care, and the successes and challenges faced by Ontario’s Patients First: Action Plan for Health Care.

“We meet frequently with stakeholders in the primary care sector to hone the targeting of our analysis and to identify needs,” says Dr. Green. “This approach allows us to continually address new challenges as they arise and make ongoing recommendations for service improvement. “

As a continual analysis of the primary care landscape, the program has already looked at things like the distribution and effectiveness of family health teams across Ontario. Geographic analysis revealed where in the province the gaps in access to family health teams were largest, allowing Dr. Green and his collaborators to advise the provincial government where they could prioritize for improved or increased service. This data helped inform the Government of Ontario when it was determining where to locate recently funded new family health teams.

“Dr. Green and his collaborators are making invaluable contributions to the future health of people across Ontario,” says John Fisher, Vice-Principal (Research). “On behalf of Queen’s, I want to congratulate him on securing new funding that will allow his team to continue this patient-oriented program that will continue to improve the province’s primary health care system.”

Visit the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s website for the announcement about this award and further details.

Learn more about the INSPIRE program here.