Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
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Introduction of Bill 74: The People’s Health Care Act, 2019
Tuesday, March 5th, 2019
If passed, the legislation would create a central agency to oversee Ontario’s healthcare system intended to, among other things, remove duplication… The Bill introduces the term “integrated care delivery systems” meaning a person or entity or group of persons or entities designated under the CCA that deliver three or more prescribed health care services.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
A glimpse into the future of health care in Ontario
Sunday, March 3rd, 2019
St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, specifically at its Integrated Comprehensive Care (ICC) program… started as a pilot back in 2012. Known then as the “bundled care” program, it was designed to connect surgical patients with a single team of clinicians who could care for them before, during and after their operations… It has resulted in a savings of up to $4,000 per patient, a 30 per cent reduction in emergency department visits and 30 per cent reduction in hospital readmissions, a savings of more than 30,000 bed days and an increase in patient satisfaction, according to the hospital.
Tags: budget, Health, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
The Liberal government shouldn’t go soft on pharmacare
Friday, March 1st, 2019
The benefits of a robust national pharmacare plan are substantial, both in improving health outcomes for millions of Canadians and reducing overall costs. The farther off that ideal the government goes, the fewer of those benefits we’ll see… Maintaining this inadequate patchwork costs everyone — governments, individuals and businesses — far more than it should. That’s not good for anyone, including those who enjoy good coverage now. As the Commons health committee put it: “In short, it will save money and lives.”
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
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The Ford government’s health reform is clear as mud
Friday, March 1st, 2019
The possibility that these teams, which might include doctors and hospitals, along with home care agencies and long-term care homes, could share one budget has the potential to deliver positive change. It would provide a clearer incentive to ensure that patients can access the right care in the right place, which generally costs far less than waiting for things to escalate into crisis. But if this is also the government’s way to shave dollars out of the health budget, that potential goes right out the window.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Is it too late to reconsider Ontario’s new health care super agency?
Thursday, February 28th, 2019
… the government will create a super agency called Ontario Health, which will become the single point of accountability for all health services in the province… It seems our ministry is forecasting several years of turgid inertia while Ontario Health and Ontario Health Teams organize their new structures… Massive new bureaucracy, maintenance of old bureaucracy and a low rules environment where we will design the future of Ontario health systems “on the fly.”
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Patients lose out in Ford’s health-care ‘reform’
Thursday, February 28th, 2019
… Ontario faces years of chaos and turmoil as the entire health-care system adjusts to yet another in a long line of bureaucratic transformations… fixing hospital overcrowding doesn’t require a super agency; it requires more money for hospital and long-term care beds… The current mess in home care is the result of inadequate funding and the availability of personal support workers and other professionals… Third, there’s no move to increase access to a family doctor for patients currently without one…
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario’s new plan for health care echoes past prescriptions
Thursday, February 28th, 2019
Elliott is now promising “transformation” of the system. She will deliver “patient-centred care.” And she intends to move people through a “siloed” system “seamlessly.” That’s precisely the wording used by the previous Liberal health minister, Dr. Eric Hoskins… Connectivity can be a good thing but it is not a sure thing — it can’t conjure up co-ordination, efficiencies and extra beds on demand. Buzzwords are not benchmarks… the question is whether these reforms are truly transformational or merely aspirational.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Health History | No Comments »
Pills can help people control risky drinking, so why aren’t doctors prescribing them?
Thursday, February 28th, 2019
A recent study found that fewer than 1% of Ontario adults with an alcohol use disorder is ever prescribed a drug that can help them drink less, and less often… Pills don’t address the underlying issues that drive some people to drink, like childhood trauma, anxiety and depression. And, in cases where people are facing massive social or legal problems, people with explosive drinking patterns whose livers are giving out, “for sure it’s better to have the goal of abstinence”… But for others, “these medications potentially can help a wide range of people get back some of the control they have lost”
Tags: Health, ideology, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Doug Ford’s health care ‘super agency’ is a solution in search of a problem
Wednesday, February 27th, 2019
a recent Conference Board of Canada comparative assessment of the provincial health systems ranked Ontario as the second-best performer in the country, behind only B.C. As is true with the analysis from the Ford government on a host of issues, the real story is more complex than they are letting on, and the fix is missing the bigger set of issues at stake, namely how to create an effective and responsive health care system.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
New Ontario Health agency would overhaul ‘disconnected’ medical system, minister says
Wednesday, February 27th, 2019
The promise to make a complicated system easier for patients to navigate came with the acknowledgement from Elliott and senior officials that the “transformation” will take at least three years — coinciding with the next provincial election — and with many details yet to be worked out… she announced between 30 and 50 “Ontario Health Teams” will form across the province to better co-ordinate all levels of care. Each will serve about 300,000 people in a geographic area or a specific group of patients across the province, such as children with fragile medical conditions.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, mental Health
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
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