Archive for the ‘Health Delivery System’ Category
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Ontario’s doctors don’t get it: Health care is a team game
Even after unilateral fee cuts in 2015, Ontario spent more of its health budget on doctors – 16.4 per cent – than any other province… Capital spending can only be deferred for so long. And the proliferation of “niche buster” drugs – highly specialized treatments for cancer and other diseases that come with six-figure price tags – will drive spending higher. But likely not as much as an increase in medical school graduates and specialists (a supply-side factor) and the number of Canadians over 75 (a demand-side driver).
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
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How far are Ontario doctors prepared to push their demands?
Those who cheer on the Ontario’s doctors’ vote as a defeat for the Wynne government and the OMA’s much-criticized leadership must say how much they willing to pay to satisfy the doctors… are Ontario’s doctors themselves willing to support higher taxes in order to finance the higher fees they feel they need to provide proper services? Alternatively, what would they suggest the government cut in order to give them a bigger budget for their services?
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, privatization, rights, standard of living, tax
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Ontario’s minister of monopoly
A new analysis of the proposed agreement by University of Toronto economist Jack Carr on behalf of doctors opposed to the deal concludes that as health-care demand rises, doctors will have to bear more of the costs. Carr says that under the agreement “doctors implicitly accept financial responsibility for increased utilization.” If utilization rates rise four per cent a year from three per cent currently, doctors will be forced to face reductions of almost $1 billion.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, mental Health, rights, standard of living
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Ontario doctors should accept deal on pay
… the government’s offer of 2.5 per cent increases in the overall physicians’ budget every year for the next four years is double what it was prepared to give previously. The government was determined to hold the line at just 1.25 per cent… In addition, by signing on to the deal doctors would avoid further unilateral cuts to their fee schedules, such as those imposed twice recently to keep spending on doctors’ services in line. And the province is prepared to make additional annual payments of from $50 million to $120 million if budgets are met.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, mental Health, rights, standard of living
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Should doctors hold out for binding arbitration?
Ontario’s overwhelming goal in contract talks with doctors has been to achieve a predictable physician services budget, and binding arbitration would undermine that approach… those calling for Ontario doctors to reject the contract seem to presume that binding arbitration would result in a better deal, but that’s not a given either… Do doctors roll the dice and bet they can squeeze more out of the provincial treasury, or do they bide their time until a court ruling gives them the ultimate bargaining tool, binding arbitration?
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
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Policing and mental illness: Many questions, no easy answers
… there are somewhere in the vicinity of a million interactions between police and people with mental illnesses each year in Canada and the vast majority end well. Research even tells us that most people with mental illnesses have a fairly favourable opinion of the police… Change will require the right people with the right knowledge and skills in the right organizations in a forward-thinking community with the right supports for people who face mental health challenges.
Tags: crime prevention, disabilities, mental Health, standard of living
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Province and doctors find healthier relationship with new deal
Ontario’s “relativity gap” refers to the relative fees doled out to medical specialists at the top of the pay scale, versus family practitioners at the bottom end. In theory, relativity means recalibrating stark differences in the OHIP fee schedule to reflect advances in cutting edge medicine and traditional primary care. In practice (especially private practice), relativity spells trouble for highly paid specialists such as the 500 doctors earning more than $1 million a year in Ontario.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
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Ontario’s surprise doctor deal will put a squeeze on pay for many physicians
They’ve agreed to set the budget for doctors’ billings at $11.584 billion, which is where they were in 2015-16. That baseline will increase 2.5 per cent a year for four years, “to reflect population growth and aging, and increasing physician supply.”… Which procedures’ prices will be cut is to be negotiated, but probably we’re talking ophthalmology, pain management and drug treatment to start with.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, mental Health
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WANTED: Leadership for Healthcare
… the necessary steps… in revamping Canada’s healthcare system to make it more affordable and accessible for Canadians… a secure, electronic health information management system capable of maintaining for each resident of every province and every territory his or her own comprehensive health record… an independent, arm’s-length healthcare system governance authority answerable ideally to the federal and provincial/territorial governments working together.
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, mental Health, standard of living
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Ontario’s bold bet on health-care reform
Called the Patients First Act, the 50-page bill would scrap the 14 controversial Community Care Access Centres (CCAC), beef up the role of the 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) and require amendments some 20 other legislative acts. The vision, as expressed by Hoskins, is to develop a system that is streamlined, more seamless and ultimately results in more money for services that front-line workers provide for needy patients in their homes and communities.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, mental Health
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