Hospital research activity stalls on flat research income

Toronto, ON – Fiscal 2013 research activity at Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals posted a small 1.1% year-on-year gain in available research funding, according to Research Infosource Inc., which released its Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals List today. The annual publication ranks hospitals on their success in attracting financial support for research. The somewhat disappointing Fiscal 2013 result came on the heels of a solid 4.8% gain in Fiscal 2012.

Combined Top 40 research activity expanded to $2.3 billion in Fiscal 2013 from $2.28 billion in Fiscal 2012.

“Fiscal 2013 results really tell two different stories,” said Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource. “The nine largest research hospitals – with funding in excess of $100 million each – increased their activity by 4.7%, whereas the 31 smaller hospitals saw their aggregate resources decline by -4.4%”. Changes in reporting standards accounted for some of the decline. In total, 25 hospitals reported gains in research funding, while numbers fell at 15 others.

Toronto’s University Health Network led all hospitals with $312.3 million of research resources, followed by Hamilton Health Sciences ($182.1 million), Hospital for Sick Children ($179.4 million), McGill University ($170.5 million) and Ottawa Hospital ($136.8 million) to round out the top five.

Health Sciences North debuted on the list at #40, posting a 75% year-on-year gain in research resources – the strongest growth of all institutions. Also new to the list were Centre de santé et de services sociaux Champlain-Charles-Le Moyne at #39 following a year-on-year resource growth of 7.5% to $5.7 million, and Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal at #34 following a year-on-year resource growth of 26% to $7.5 million. Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital joined the elite $100 Million Club as a result of its resource growth by 14.6% to $109.1 million.

Research Infosource took two approaches to measuring research intensity this year: income intensity (percentage of total income derived from research) and researcher intensity (financial resources attracted per researcher). The Hospital for Sick Children was the country’s most income-intensive institution, deriving 24.2% of its total income from research sources. Researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital attracted an average of $956,600 of funding to top the researcher intensity ranking. Hospital size had no bearing on the results with a number of smaller institutions outperforming their larger counterparts.

The complete list is available at http://www.researchinfosource.com/top40_hosp.php.