based priority-setting: what do the decision-makers think?
Craig Mitton, San Patten Centre for Healthcare Innovation and Improvement, University of British Columbia, Canada; Centre for Health and Policy Studies, University of Calgary, Canada Objectives: Resource scarcity dictates the need for health organisations to set priorities. Although such activity should be based, at least in part, on evidence, there are limited examples in the literature of decision-makers reflecting on their use of evidence in priority-setting. Methods: A participatory action-research project was conducted in a single health authority in Alberta. It included in-depth interviews and focus groups with senior decision-makers both before and after development and implementation of a macro-level priority-setting framework (programme budgeting and marginal analysis, PBMA). Data were thematically coded and information on the use of evidence in priority-setting is reported. Results: Barriers to the use of evidence in priority-setting identified by decision-makers included cri
