Archive for the ‘Health Delivery System’ Category
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Creating a new IT culture in health care
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
Oct 3, 2011
… Moving from paper legacy systems to modern IT is a big change. New hardware, new skills, new attitudes, new assumptions. It’s really a new culture and you don’t get there in one step.” … we are well on our way and are starting to reap the benefits of health IT systems throughout the country… almost 260,000 tele-health sessions were held in 2010, supporting services such as remote care, education for health providers and administrative meetings… Canadians who received care via telehealth rather than travelling to other communities for care saved about $70-million in personal travel costs in 2010.
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
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The Chopping Block: 1. Canada Health Infoway
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Sep 29, 2011
… the objective was to electronically hook something like 400,000 health care professionals, pharmacists and doctors, more than 700 hospitals, thousands of private clinics, and 33 million Canadians into one big national interoperable system… Health Infoway has in the past suggested a total of $10-billion to $12-billion might be needed. But that number is clearly a gross underestimate. The spending is said to be worth it, because the benefits are measured in the billions annually. But such benefits are generally based on fanciful number-crunching by hired consultants who’s brief is to generate a rationale for the spending.
Tags: budget, Health
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The health system we need
Sunday, September 25th, 2011
Sep 24 2011
Illness prevention, earlier intervention and home care cannot be seen as add-ons to the regular health-care system. They are just as essential as a hospital emergency room if we want a system that can properly and affordably cope with the needs of an aging population. But the idea that these new and enhanced health services should receive substantial money from within existing health budgets is something few politicians are ready to embrace.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
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McGuinty shows off his poetry chops at mental health event
Saturday, September 24th, 2011
September 23, 2011
Mr. McGuinty focused his remarks on youth, noting that 70 per cent of mental issues begin in childhood. His party is pledging $257-million over next three years to help Ontario children and youth, he said. The money is aimed at providing faster access to services, put mental health workers in schools, allow for video counselling for rural children and help for aboriginal kids… The expansion will house inpatient beds for schizophrenia, a community support and research and clinical programs.
Tags: mental Health, youth
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Midwives push childbirth as campaign issue
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Sep 21 2011
… both the Liberals and New Democrats say they support the notion of freestanding birth centres. The centres would be run by midwives and give women who have low-risk pregnancies the option of delivering babies in a more natural setting away from hospitals… Birth centres were not part of party platforms released previously by either party. But in response to the midwives’ survey, the Liberals said they “support piloting birth centres in Ontario and are open to exploring the possibilities for this model.”
Tags: Health, women
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Doctors see fewer patients in move to end fees
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
Jul 20, 2011
The latest National Physician Survey of 18,000 Canadian doctors showed the portion who receive just fee-for-service has dropped to 42% from 51% in 2004… doctors on alternative payment plans see up to 30% fewer patients per week than their fee-for-service colleagues… the shift to alternative payment has occurred with virtually no scientific examination of whether one system delivers better service to patients than the other.
Tags: budget, Health
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Sustainable health care
Monday, September 12th, 2011
September 12, 2011
… when people are shielded from the costs, they demand more expensive types of treatment, even when less expensive types of treatment would be nearly as effective… it’s time to look elsewhere for more sustainable ways to finance Canadian health care while maintaining universal access. Ideally, provinces should have the green light to experiment with policies currently used in a number of European countries. This will require temporary suspension of enforcement of the Canada Health Act.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, privatization
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The kids aren’t all right
Sunday, September 4th, 2011
Sep 03 2011
I never dreamed that after 35 years in medicine I would now find so many children in worse shape than when I started. Three years ago, I was asked to set up a social pediatrics program at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). Social pediatrics recognizes that poverty places children at high risk for current and future health problems… The experience is transformative. One young doctor had to examine a sick child in a dim apartment because the electricity had been cut off. She said she’d never again do an assessment or write a prescription without wondering if paying for the antibiotic might mean no food on the table.
Tags: featured, Health, poverty, standard of living, youth
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Medicare can’t heal itself
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
Sep 1, 2011
No discussion of ethics can ignore the distinction between coercion and voluntariness. Coercion is the very essence of socialized medicine. Under Canadian medicare, extra billing is verboten. User fees — verboten. Competing with the government’s monopoly health-insurance plan — verboten. Withholding your tax payments until you get the promised services — verboten. Forcing people to pay for services and then not providing them is tantamount to theft or fraud. It is the state system of coercive public health care that is unethical.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
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Suppressing Schizophrenia
Monday, August 29th, 2011
August 29, 2011
The failure of the Mental Health Commission of Canada to thoroughly support a science-based approach for understanding and responding to schizophrenia is not just a disappointment for people who live with this catastrophic illness and their families. Given the enormous financial and social impact of this brain disorder, the positioning of the MHCC in relation to schizophrenia will have negative consequences for the rest of society as well.
Tags: ideology, mental Health, rights, standard of living
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