Health Policy - Op Eds

Canada’s governments recently came to broad agreement on renewing federal-provincial health transfers. Ottawa asked the provinces and territories to modernize Canadians’ access to their electronic health information with “standardized health data and digital tools.” Bilateral negotiation will define the details of these digital aspirations. Canadians should pay attention: their health depends on it.

Canadian healthcare is not so much a system as a complex network of interdependent agents — governments, publicly funded services, private providers, professional orders and others. Whether you’re a nurse, doctor, health researcher, public health practitioner, health administrator or in government, trustworthy information is…

In the real world of health service delivery, the last three years have taught us a great deal. The pandemic has been a test of endurance for health care workers for sure, but it has also tested our ability as a collective system to do something we don’t do enough of: work together.

Here is an incomplete list of the results:

We procured massive quantities of supplies and distributed them across the country: Personal Protective Equipment; swabs; hand sanitizer; ventilators. We massively ramped up testing capacity; stood up assessment centres, drive-through clinics, mobile outreach teams. We trained and retrained health care workers; instituted billing codes and protocols for COVID@Home clinics and virtual care for people…

Twenty-five years ago, I secured the rights to a state-of-the-art telehealth system and brought it to Canada. Patients called a number to receive instant advice about their medical issue and be directed effectively to a proper level of care. I thought it would greatly benefit Canadians and save insurers millions.

In a single-payor system, like in Canada’s provinces and territories, my solution would have reduced the burden on emergency rooms and helped minimize staffing demands for hospitals.

But the Ontario government didn’t buy it. It ended up buying a low-cost nursing telephone line designed to generate revenue for hospitals, encouraging callers to visit a hospital emergency room.

Why? Because the upfront cost…

Once upon a time, Canadians completed their educations and began a permanent, full-time career, complete with a pension plan and fringe benefits.

For many people today, that life is little more than a fairy tale. The world of work has changed dramatically, and those pension and benefit plans are no longer fringe – they’re now essential. Up to five million people in Ontario alone do not get health benefits from their employers.

Those people are most often in non-standard jobs. They’re self-employed, or have temporary, part-time or contract work. Digital platforms such as Uber or DoorDash added almost 700,000 gig jobs to the Canadian economy between 2005 and 2016.

Health services outside medicare are often…

The recent controversy sparked by Ontario’s announcement that it will expand the use of private surgery and diagnostic-imaging clinics has missed the point. Health care in Ontario is already much more “private” than most people know, and the province has never had a universal system that is publicly funded and publicly delivered in a truly comprehensive manner. Myths about how our health care system does (or does not) work are unhelpful when attempting to address the very real challenges that result in long delays for surgeries and doctor’s appointments.

A major point of contention is the spending of public money on procedures completed at “for-profit” clinics, which is usually a criticism levied at the province for…