Canada’s top 40 research hospitals, hospital networks and health authorities devoted a combined $3.06 billion to research in Fiscal 2020, a substantial gain of 5.8 per cent over Fiscal 2019, according to Research Infosource Inc., which released its annual Top 40 Research Hospitals ranking. The overall research spending gain was led by a rise of 20 per cent in research spending at national leader, Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN), where outlays expanded to $490 million.
In spite of an encouraging national picture, research spending dropped at 12 of the 40 organizations. The number of researchers nationwide increased by 3.6 per cent to 9,698.
The Hospital for Sick Children ranked #2 ($282 million, up 11%), followed by McGill University Health Centre #3 ($206.1 million, up 1.2%), Hamilton Health Sciences #4 ($171.1 million, down by 7.4%), and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority #5 ($164.7 million, down by 9%) rounded out the 5 national research leaders.
“Fiscal 2020 was a decidedly mixed year for health research system research spending,” said Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource. “While total research spending was up, a not-insignificant number of organizations (12) saw their spending decline. Overall, the health research system remains in good shape, although the gains were uneven.”
In Fiscal 2020, research spending growth was highest at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg (up 72.7%), Vitalité Health Network (up 69.9%) and Baycrest (up 47.1%).
A total of 10 organizations reported double-digit research spending increases. This year 10 of the 40 research hospitals, hospital networks and health authorities are included in Research Infosource’s $100 Million Club, posting research spending in excess of $100 million in Fiscal 2020.
Researcher intensity – spending per researcher – was highest at London Health Sciences/St. Joseph’s Health Care London (Large tier, $618,700 per researcher), The Hospital for Sick Children (Medium tier, $734,200) and Baycrest (Small tier, $997,000.)
Organizational intensity – research spending as a portion of total hospital spending – was highest at University Health Network (Large, 20.0% of total spending), The Hospital for Sick Children (Medium, 28.4%) and Montreal Heart Institute (Small, 19.4%).
