Archive for the ‘Health Delivery System’ Category
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What kind of health system does Ontario want?
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
Jul. 07, 2011
Do we want the system in which administrative power is centralized in the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care in Toronto? Or do we want a highly decentralized system in which regional authorities have real power? …Planning and management should not be dirty words. And those who want to lead the government should articulate their vision of how that system should be run. “Scrap LHINs” is not a vision; it’s a cop-out.
Tags: budget, Health, participation
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My doctor threatened to fire me for going to a walk-in clinic. Why?
Monday, July 25th, 2011
Jul. 24, 2011
The reason has nothing to do with concerns over the quality of medical care your son received at the walk-in clinic. It simply comes down to money. When you go to a walk-in clinic, instead of a hospital emergency department, your doctor gets financially dinged for it. If that clinic billed Ontario for an intermediate assessment done on your son, for example, your doctor would lose $33.10 from his so-called access bonus because he’s in a family health network; or in a family health organization or on a blended salary model.
Tags: budget, Health
Posted in Health Delivery System | 1 Comment »
Doctors see fewer patients in move to end fees
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
Jul 20, 2011
Many of the government officials interviewed for a 2009 study by a team at Dalhousie University worried about salaried doctors who spend longer with patients — but see fewer of them… Many experts, however, argue alternative payment and related reforms have been a clear success. In Ontario, two million people are now served by family-health teams, where doctors work with other professionals and receive a combination of “capitation” — set yearly payments per patient — fees and incentive payments to do preventive and other enhanced care.
Tags: budget, Health, mental Health, standard of living
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The disproportionate fees for cataract surgery
Sunday, July 17th, 2011
Jul. 15, 2011
When a surgery becomes quicker, less intense and safer, it’s fair to consider a fee reduction, especially in a publicly funded health-care system where value for money and sustainability are inextricably linked… Overpriced cataract surgery highlights why the fee-for-service system, where doctors are paid for each procedure they do, should be replaced with a mixed payment system… what’s really needed is a new way to compensate doctors that is fair and equitable, and helps sustain the public health-care system for decades to come.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
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Ontario takes a backward step on mental health
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
Jul 12 2011
… the Ministry of Health began negotiating the hand-off of Ontario’s Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, an independent provincial agency, to the Canadian Mental Health Association… It upsets [mental health advocates] that there was no public consultation. And it worries them that the ministry is chipping away at the rights of one of the most vulnerable groups in society under the guise of “integrating” health services. But their biggest concern is that the government is poised to walk away from its role as the guardian of Ontarians with mental disabilities.
Tags: disabilities, mental Health, rights
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Patient-centred care: It’s about relationships
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
Jul. 13, 2011
The Canadian Medical Association helpfully launched the debate about renewing the Canada Health Accord in 2014 with its Health Care Transformation in Canada policy document, published around this time last year… it recommended a shift in focus from discrete services, such as surgeries, to “patient-centred care.” I agree, with one qualification. It should be patient-relationship-centred care. The willingness to enter and sustain a relationship with the patient is crucial… The key is getting people to take responsibility for their recovery, and that’s hard.
Tags: disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health
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… superbug outbreak abates, but enemy still lurks
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
Jul. 14, 2011
… handwashing is necessary for health-care workers, patients and visitors. But in Canada, we too often skimp on support staff like janitors. It’s not enough, however, to throw bodies with mops into the equation: In health care, everything should be evidence-based… Just as important as preventing the spread of pathogens is minimizing patient susceptibility… There is a lot of evidence that antibiotics are overused… But more than anything.. a change of attitude is needed. We need to empower patients and their families with basic information.
Tags: Health, standard of living
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Patients should be at centre of health services
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Jul. 10, 2011
Medicare is built around those who provide care – doctors and nurses – not those who receive it. With an aging population, every Canadian hospital must move quickly to revolutionize its health services, with patients at the centre. If not, they should face a cut in public funds. Most patients with multiple medical problems today are elderly… But that cost should not include disjointed medical care, with numerous specialists in different locations and no one seemingly in charge… creating a logjam for hospitals, cancelled operations and wasted resources.
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
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Out in the open [Aboriginal sexual health education]
Monday, July 4th, 2011
June 30, 2011
First Nations women and youth are at disproportionately higher risks than the mainstream Canadian population to have other adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes. These communities are more likely to suffer high-risk pregnancies, pre-term deliveries, sexually transmitted infections and instances of sexual violence… The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC)… online initiative, AboriginalSexualHealth.ca (link to: http://aboriginalsexualhealth.ca/), [is] a website meant to educate and empower First Nation, Inuit and Métis women and their health-care providers.
Tags: Health, Indigenous, standard of living, women, youth
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Cutting surgical wait times for children
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
Jun 28 2011
Considering that there is no advantage to waiting — it saves no money and only delays essential care — the question now for all governments is how we should respond to almost 30 per cent of Canadian children waiting too long for surgery… In just under four years, across 15 academic and nine community hospitals across Canada, the CPSWT Project has measured the wait for surgery for more than 200,000 children. This has allowed us to follow trends, benchmark waits between peer hospitals and learn from each other.
Tags: budget, Health, rights, standard of living, youth
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