The North American Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (NAO) is a collaborative partnership of interested researchers, research organizations, governments, and health organizations promoting evidence-informed health system policy decision-making. Due to the high degree of health system decentralization in the United States and Canada, the NAO is committed to focusing considerable attention to state and provincial health systems and to creating a foundation for more systematic health system and policy comparisons among substates.
Featured

Alberta: A Health System Profile

Sustainability and Resilience in the
Canadian Health System

Call for special issue papers: Jordan’s principle
COVID-19 Research Updates
- Challenges facing mental health systems arising from the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 14 European and North American countries, Health Policy
- Public Officials’ Engagement on Social Media During the Rollout of the COVID-19 Vaccine: Content Analysis of Tweets, JMIR Infodemiology
- Centralization and integration of public health systems: Perspectives of public health leaders on factors facilitating and impeding COVID-19 responses in three Canadian provinces, Health Policy
- Comparison of COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout Approaches across Canada Case Studies of Four Diverse Provinces, Health Reform Observer
New Publications
- Challenges navigating publicly funded home care in Ontario, Canada: Perspectives from unpaid caregivers of persons living with dementia, Dementia
- Promise and peril: how health system reforms impacted public health in three Canadian provinces, Canadian Journal of Public Health
- Disparities in access to primary care are growing wider in Canada, Healthcare Management Forum
New Rapid Reviews
News
- Newsletter – August 2023
- Institute for Pandemics: 2023 Catalyst and Research Development Grant Recipients
- How we can right-size Canada’s health system as the population grows, Toronto Star (July 1, 2023)
Opportunities
Health System Profiles

Canada Health System Review (2020)

Mexico Health System Review (2020)

United States Health System Review (2020)
The North American Observatory is hosted at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario. We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.