Provinces to team up on drug purchases
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
Having one entity responsible for drug purchases for all 13 provinces and territories would lower costs on a major contributor to the growing tab for health care… “We’re really just beginning to understand how much we can do together,” Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said at the closing news conference on Friday
Tags: Health, pharmaceutical
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Natives to win HST concessions from Ottawa
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
Jun. 16, 2010
Until this month, Ottawa had ignored natives’ pleas for a provincewide point-of-sale exemption from the HST after it takes effect on July 1. But with native leaders set to plan protests that could include outright blockades, federal and provincial officials engaged in a frantic round of negotiations. Sources say that an 11th-hour deal to give aboriginals the exemption is now imminent…
Tags: Indigenous, tax
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Ontario aims to put more physicians on salary
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
May. 28, 2010
The majority of Ontario’s approximately 24,000 doctors are paid on a fee-for-service basis, meaning they bill the provincial health plan for each service they provide to a patient. But in recent years, some hospitals, particularly those in smaller, rural communities, have switched to a salary system for doctors in their emergency departments. As well, the 1,900 doctors who work in clinics as part of family health teams created by the McGuinty government are also paid a salary.
Tags: budget, Health
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Make rich seniors pay for drugs: health care report
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
May. 27, 2010
Today’s report… proposes 10 recommendations to make Ontario’s $46-billion system more efficient while maintaining quality. While the report focuses solely on Ontario, it has lessons for other provinces. It comes against the backdrop of a looming deadline – the April 1, 2013, expiration of agreements governing three major transfers to the provinces that cover social programs, equalization and health care, costing Ottawa about $54-billion annually. “You just can’t get your spending down if quality is diminishing over time,”… “And you’ve got a problem with sustainability.”
Tags: Health, standard of living, tax
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Doctors fear new hospital bylaws will keep them silent
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
May 12, 2010
The bylaws prepared by the association, which represents the province’s 155 hospitals, stipulate that doctors cannot engage in any conduct that would adversely affect a hospital’s “reputation or standing in the community,” and must raise any concerns through proper channels, including the chief executive officer or board of directors. Failure to comply with the new bylaws can be grounds to suspend a doctor’s hospital privileges.
Tags: Health
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Ontario to limit hospital executives’ pay
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
Apr. 02, 2010
Fourteen hospital CEOs made more than $500,000 last year, according to the annual sunshine list of public sector workers who earned more than $100,000… “You cannot expect a front line nurse or clerk to just accept the notion that you’ve got to restrain your pay when they see CEOs getting huge increases,” Mr. Duncan said. The government is also introducing changes to the province’s prescription drug system to lower costs for generic drugs. But Mr. Duncan said health care is primarily driven by the cost of services provided by “human beings.” As a result, he said, wrestling with compensation – something he acknowledges won’t be easy – is the single most effective way to curtail the rate of growth in health-care spending.
Tags: Health
Posted in Health Debates | 2 Comments »
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