Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

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As diabetes rates surge globally, obesity is no longer the sole culprit. It can start in the womb

Sunday, November 3rd, 2019

This work brings the immune system living inside the gut to the centre stage as a new area that really needs to be investigated further.” At the very least, “it reinforces the idea of having a healthy, balanced diet, because it impacts the bacteria and the immune cells in the gut.” Others are exploring whether our personalities, and not just what we eat, may put us at greater risk of diabetes.

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How can we ration health care, without discrimination?

Wednesday, October 30th, 2019

Health-care providers cannot refuse care based on prejudices or stereotypes, but they can refuse or limit care if a medical condition could result in significant complications or costs. But exclusion criteria must be clear and based on evidence, and we can’t let bias creep in when making difficult rationing decisions… we have to debate these mind-bogglingly complex questions openly, not just punt them to the courts.

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Ontario changing pharmacist payments to save government $436-million

Sunday, October 27th, 2019

Ontario has reached a tentative agreement with the province’s pharmacists that will see them take millions of dollars less in payments over the next half decade… It would also see the government pay pharmacists a flat fee for every patient receiving prescriptions in a long-term care home rather than paying for each individual prescription that’s issued… [and] scrap a $2 co-payment that long-term care residents currently pay on each prescription.

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Med school needs more students, dean tells Sudbury chamber

Friday, October 25th, 2019

“Health care in Northern Ontario is in greater turmoil than it is in any other part of the province,” she said. “In some places, we’re one doctor away from a crisis. We’re one sub-specialist away from a crisis.” … One of her concerns is the cap on the number of students at NOSM. “Is it enough to have 64 physicians in a part of the province where the need is greater?” she asked. “It makes me crazy. We need to expand this medical school.”

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A (little) bit of welcome news on the opioid crisis

Friday, October 25th, 2019

… “evidence-based strategies” … includes improved access to harm reduction and overdose prevention, such as safe consumption sites; increased resources to treat addictions and mental health conditions; and better access to alternative treatments for chronic pain… There were more than 4,500 opioid-related deaths in Canada last year. Ontario needs to do its part to make sure those numbers decline.

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To improve health care, we need to plan our work force of the future

Friday, October 25th, 2019

We need to rethink our traditional approach of strictly controlling the number of health workers we educate and train and turn to oversupply, knowing that many will be wooed away… One in five nurses in Canada leaves their job each year, and the turnover costs are enormous… [We must] ensure jobs are meaningful, appropriate and, most of all, that there are people to fill the posts that are so essential to our care.

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A Federal Minority: The Leading Parties’ Promises on Health Care

Thursday, October 24th, 2019

With the Liberal Party of Canada… winning Monday’s federal election with 157 of 338 seats in the House of Commons, campaign promises will need broader support in order to be realized. This bulletin summarizes the positions of the top five parties… on health care topics including pharmacare… dental care), primary care, mental health and addiction services, Indigenous health care and medical assistance in dying.

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‘Innovative’ health clinic in Midland high school serves students and public

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2019

“The idea arose to house the health unit in a vacant wing of the school… The location had many benefits, including bringing health services close to students, sitting on a transit route and being close to a neighbourhood… Ten programs run from the clinic, including prenatal, immunizations, water sampling, sexual health, needle exchange, naloxone training, and substance abuse and prevention.

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Voters beware: National pharmacare is unnecessary, bad for privately insured Canadians and costly for taxpayers

Saturday, October 19th, 2019

… it would be less disruptive and less expensive to just fill the gaps caused by public formulary exclusions… CHPI’s model doesn’t require shifting the full cost of existing provincial public drug plans onto the federal budget, nor require the government to cover privately paid costs, so it reduces the burden on the federal budget by $14.1 billion compared to the PBO’s model.

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Who deserves mental health? It should be everyone

Friday, October 18th, 2019

As the Canadian Mental Health Association’s research has shown, more than half of us consider depression and anxiety to be at “epidemic levels” and yet 1.6 million Canadians feel they’re going untreated. The CMHA has called for a federal parity act to bring mental-health spending “into balance” with spending on physical health (right now, only 7.2 per cent of health-care spending goes to mental health).

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