New hospital funding models not without risks
VANCOUVER, B.C.—Revising the way hospitals are funded can create incentives for hospitals to reduce costs and reduce inefficient models of care. The provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario have each recently announced plans to tackle this problem by introducing what is referred to as activity-based funding (ABF), as a complement to current funding […]
Canada needs to prioritize home care in Health Accord renewal
SHERBROOKE, QUE.—The upcoming 2014 Federal-Provincial Health Accord negotiations are an opportunity to transform our health-care system to respond to the aging of our population and the associated pandemic of chronic diseases coming our way. There is little doubt that home care should be a priority in this transformation—along with health prevention, primary care and […]
We can sustain our health-care system, seniors’ care can show the way
VICTORIA, B.C.—There have been a number of Canadian reports recently which paint a gloomy picture of the future sustainability of the Canadian health-care system. They note that health costs are inexorably rising, and caring for a growing elderly population may eventually bankrupt our health-care system. In order to progress, we need to revisit and […]
Tory MP’s private member’s bill aims to raise awareness of health risks of dense breast tissue
MPs on the House Health Committee are hoping to raise awareness of the risks posed by inadequate screening of dense breast tissue to women’s health after unanimously voting in favour of private member’s Bill C-314 in hearings last week. “The surgery and the subsequent six months of aggressive chemotherapy…it robbed my family of a […]
Are Canada’s premiers serious about innovation in public health care?
CALGARY, ALTA.—The task of reforming public health care has been left in the hands of Canada’s premiers after the federal government dropped a 10-year non-negotiable funding plan in their laps and beat a quick retreat into the tall grasses. Ottawa’s over-to-you strategy comes complete with no strings attached to how they spend the $40-billion […]
Canadian doctors making more money and one of our fastest-growing health costs
THUNDER BAY, ONT.—The recent release of National Health Expenditure Trends by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) puts total health expenditure in Canada at a whopping $192.9-billion in 2010 and $200.5-billion in 2011—annual increases of 5.9 and four per cent respectively. This year’s release was also accompanied by a report titled Health Care […]
It’s time to embrace health-care transformation as vigorously in practice as in theory
OTTAWA—In spite of near consensus that bending the cost curve is key to the future sustainability of Canada’s health system, tough questions about how to achieve this goal remain. The best proposals have the potential to simultaneously rein in costs and improve access to health services, quality of care, and the patient experience. This […]
Money for nothing: accountability in the brave new age of medicare
REGINA, SASK.—In December, the federal minister of Finance announced that the federal government would extend the current six per cent annual escalator on the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) to 2015-16 and thereafter link increases in the CHT to the rate of economic growth with a floor of three per cent per year. The announcement […]
We need a meaningful federal role in medicare
OTTAWA—Towards the end of December, the Harper government announced a new formula for its transfer payments to the provinces in aid of health care, following the current 10-year Health Accord negotiated in 2004 by then prime minister Paul Martin and the provincial/territorial premiers. Several provinces, most notably Ontario, complained loudly that the money will […]
Is this the end of Canadian medicare?
PARLIAMENT HILL—The Conservative government’s announcement that it would impose cuts in federal health transfers after 2017, came as a shock to provincial premiers and health-care groups, who had been calling for a first ministers meeting on health care for more than a year. They were united in their condemnation of the unilateral nature of […]
