Health and Social Services Projects
In 2006, Mr. Jacobson completed studies on chronic disease issues for Health Canada. He led a study on Aboriginal chronic care approaches focussing on approaches tried in other jurisdictions including the US, Australia and New Zealand. He authored a study dealing specifically with Aboriginal diabetes for Health Canada.
In 2007, Mr. Jacobson completed a study for Alberta Health and Wellness on measuring healthcare productivity. In 2007, Mr. Jacobson completed a study of the EI Illness benefit for HRSDC involving WES and Survey of Labour Income Dynamics (SLID) data. In 2008, Mr. Jacobson prepared a report on the feasibility of evaluating a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) program for the North of 60.
In 2008, Mr. Jacobson completed a literature and data review on chronic disease and disability trends for a consortium of rehabilitation hospitals in Toronto. This paper explicitly looked at chronic disease, injury and key disease trends for the Toronto area that would impact the demand for rehabilitation services.
In 2009, the major LHIN strategic study, by JCI, was utilized as input to the Integrated Health Services Plan. It highlighted key service trends in TC LHIN and identified strategic issues for the LHIN including the high patient inflows. Planning and funding challenges as well as issues of equity and accountability were also studies in the report. In addition, TC LHIN commissioned JCI to prepare a paper summarizing some European trends in integrated health care to inform discussions within the LHIN about integrated care and care management.io
As well as the projects outlined above, during 2009, Mr. Jacobson, as a subcontractor to Informetrica Limited, created an economic cost projection model for diabetes mellitus. Mr. Jacobson later developed an updated model incorporating additional diseases and presented the results in one of the sessions in the 2010 CAHSPR conference in Toronto.
In 2010, Mr. Jacobson collaborated with Informetrica Limited to develop a funding model for the Child Welfare Sector in Ontario.
In 2012, Mr. Jacobson was the lead author on a study of interprofessional teams in primary care. This material is available on the CHSRF web site.[1]
In 2014 and 2017. Mr. Jacobson developed employment and wage indicators for the Canadian Federation of Nursing Unions.
In 2017, Mr. Jacobson was part of a team lead by KPMG that worked on recommendations for child welfare funding models for Ontario.
In 2017, Mr. Jacobson completed a project for the Assembly of First Nations on the funding requirements for First Nations post-secondary education.
In 2018, Mr. Jacobson worked on a literature review of specialist compensation for the Alberta Medical Association.
In 2018, Mr. Jacobson was part of team with Barnes Consulting working on funding needs for Indigenous Child Welfare.
Earlier health care projects include reviews of health care funding and sustainability for provincial governments, value for money studies for a provincial government, reviews of chronic disease management issues and other strategic questions for a major complex continuing care facility in Toronto.
Publications
Mr. Jacobson has published two articles on health care policy and insurance in Policy Options (August 2004, September 2005). Links to this material are on the JCI web site. The web site also contains recent reports prepared for the Toronto Central LHIN, and for the Retail Council.
In August 2012, Mr. Jacobson presented a detailed study on wage inequality for the CABE Moneco-Econtro policy conference. Links to this material are available on the CABE web site.
Areas of Expertise
Paul M. Jacobson, President of Jacobson Consulting Inc. has more than 40 years of professional experience as an economist and consultant. Among other responsibilities, he led policy-related consulting studies for Informetrica Limited in Ottawa for the first 20 years of his career before creating an independent practice to facilitate a move to Toronto.
Planning and Policy Analysis
Many of Mr. Jacobson’s assignments have been directed at specific policies. For example, in 2006, Mr. Jacobson analyses policy issues with respect to income replacement for long-term illness for HRSDC. In 2010, Mr. Jacobson analyzed the economic impact of a specific program for Indian and Northern Affairs. These studies all required the preparation of specific reports and presentation material. In 2007, Mr. Jacobson prepared a study of the measurement of health care productivity for the Alberta government and the results were presented at a seminar in Edmonton in 2008. In 2009, many of Mr. Jacobson’s assignments were focussed on health care including a strategic planning report for the Toronto Central Local Health Integration network. In 2010, the policy studies included work on a funding model for child welfare in Ontario and the economic analysis of the residential schools settlement.
Research
Mr. Jacobson’s principal focus as a consultant has been on the delivery of specific research to support policy development and strategic planning. Recent analysis has focussed on two areas, health care and labour. In 2007, Mr. Jacobson prepared a study of the measurement of health care productivity for the Alberta government and the results were presented at a seminar in Edmonton in 2008. In 2008, Mr. Jacobson prepared a research report for the complex care hospitals in Toronto related to the requirements for the complex and rehabilitation care in Ontario. As noted above, Mr. Jacobson has undertaken methodological research on the estimation of the contribution to GDP of aboriginal workers as well as a number of detailed studies of the role that key service activities and occupations play in the Canadian economy. The latter work was undertaken for Industry Canada.
In August of 2012, Mr. Jacobson presented a paper on wage inequality at the CABE Moneco-Econtro conference.
Over the years, Mr. Jacobson has created many statistical studies and presentations for the Retail Council of Canada.
Mr. Jacobson also prepared research on the structure of retail labour markets in specific areas for a large legal firm and appeared numerous times as an expert witness in legal proceedings associated with that material.
Other research clients have included Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Health Canada as well as industrial clients such as INTERAC and the Offord Group.
All of these studies require a substantial knowledge of both statistical data and presentation. Mr. Jacobson regularly processes very large databases using various relational database systems as well as statistical software. Mr. Jacobson maintains current copies of a number of large Statistics Canada datasets including the major population surveys (SLID, CCHS, NPHS, GSS). Mr. Jacobson regularly commissions highly-detailed special tabulations from Statistics Canada, other government agencies as well as the authorities in other countries.
Forecasting
At Informetrica Limited for the first 20 years of his career, Mr. Jacobson led the development of the major forecasting models. He has undertaken numerous employment forecasting studies, many for the Canadian Occupational Projection system (COPS) work at HRDC and its successor departments. Some years ago, Mr. Jacobson completed a review of employment forecasting approaches for COPS.
Recent forecasting experience includes the development of an economic cost of diabetes model and forecast for the Canadian Diabetes Association as a subcontractor to Informetrica Limited in 2009. This model focussed on the costs to society and to the health care system of diabetes and its associated co-morbidities. Mr. Jacobson developed a substantial revision of this model with an expanded treatment of co-morbidities and social costs. The results of this work were presented as conference paper at the recent Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) conference in Toronto in May 2010. Mr. Jacobson also prepared an economic forecasting study of a major aboriginal grant program using the Informetrica econometric model (TIM) as well as detailed Census tables.
Mr. Jacobson also utilizes the multi- country forecasting model from Oxford Economics and works as a sales consultant to them.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning requires a good environmental scan along with a thorough analysis of issues. Many of Mr. Jacobson’s studies have been specifically oriented to strategic planning. Specifically, the work on chronic disease, integrated care and the strategic white paper prepared for the Toronto Central LHIN contains very significant environmental scan components incorporating detailed literature and data reviews to identify key issues for the client. This study also required detailed interviews with senior executives in the health care sector in Toronto. This material is available on JCI’s web site.
[1] http://www.cfhi-fcass.ca/PublicationsAndResources/ResearchReports/ArticleView/12-06-27/0f362096-8b8e-4f67-b2c0-65f6e95b2bdf.aspx