Social Accountability as the Framework for the Moral Obligations of Health Institutions

A Call to Action for an Academic Health

Abstract

There is growing recognition that a social accountability framework, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) for medical schools, can also apply to other health institutions. Social accountability could help identify the priority health needs, reflective of the values of relevance, quality, efficiency, and equity, of the people health institutions serve through a unique approach to stakeholder engagement. Patient encounters from the frontlines of the emergency department (ED) in an Academic Health Sciences Institution (AHSI) inspired the question: Could social accountability help an AHSI identify, understand, respond to, and impact the health needs of the people and communities it serves? The AHSI in Northeastern Ontario, Canada -- Health Sciences North (HSN) -- was well positioned to test the appetite for a social accountability framework outside of medical schools. HSN’s 2018 strategic plan presented an opportunity to advocate for social accountability at the health institution. Work that seeded this idea, however, was underway long before the strategic plan process. In response, the AHSI created a leadership position to oversee its need to “Be Socially Accountable.”