« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Ontario does not need more for-profit surgery
Wednesday, January 18th, 2023
Repealing Bill 124, for example, would be a first step in attracting nurses back to hospital ORs, and moving surgeries to dedicated community facilities could increase volumes by 30 per cent for roughly the same cost. But investing more broadly in for-profit surgery providers – which has enormous risks for hospital staffing, and will increase the costs passed on to patients and taxpayers – should not be on the table.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
We can’t view health as an exclusively personal matter – it’s a collective endeavour
Monday, January 9th, 2023
… health care, including hospital capacity, testing and biomedical treatments, or individual behaviours… are critically important. But what gets overlooked… is… the political economy of health… In a wealthy country, everyone should have the material and social foundations needed to have a good life and participate with dignity in society… “We have more than enough money and capacity to make that happen, but we haven’t.”
Tags: Health, ideology, Indigenous, mental Health, participation
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
To avoid future ‘freedom convoy’ protests, we need an economy built on hope
Sunday, January 8th, 2023
… the rise of authoritarian (or what we call ordered) populism; the collapse of institutional trust; and the burgeoning role of disinformation transmitted largely, but by no means exclusively, by social media. All of these forces are fanning the flames of discontent in ways we could not have imagined a decade ago… The roots of these new forces are complex but ultimately initiated by the collapse of shared prosperity and inclusive economics.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
In vilifying safe supply, Pierre Poilievre has picked the wrong target
Wednesday, January 4th, 2023
Pierre Poilievre… states that the opioid crisis is the result of “a deliberate policy by woke Liberal and NDP governments to provide taxpayer-funded drugs – to flood our streets with easy access to these poisons.”… the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police have both supported the use of replacement drugs. Using a safe supply to save lives is key to what we should all be doing – taking care of some of our most vulnerable citizens.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
What the rest of the country can learn from Ontario’s family doctor payment model
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023
The Canadian Medical Association has named “expanding team-based care” as one of its top recommendations for solving the country’s health care crisis… The most important lesson of Ontario’s primary-care reforms… is this: if a government is going to change the way it pays family doctors, and pay them more in the process, it needs to put clear and enforceable rules in its physician services agreement.
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
10 ways to fix Canada’s health care system right now
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023
Canada’s health care system requires major reform and possibly radical solutions. Here are 10 solutions to these problems that might be achieved without having to resort to increased privatization… In this 10-part series, we will present 10 major problems that commonly arise within the Canadian medicare system.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canadians aren’t just adapting to diversity – there’s data to show we’re embracing it
Monday, January 2nd, 2023
… our image of the country, and its demographic reality, are evolving in the same direction. Diversity has become more important to us as we have become more diverse. Canadians are not only adapting to change, they are embracing it.
Tags: ideology, multiculturalism, participation
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Canada’s health care system is stuck firmly in the past
Thursday, December 22nd, 2022
Canada needs to choose a bigger pan. We can expand the dimensions of what health care can provide through pan-Canadian licensure, a national health human resource plan, multijurisdictional data sharing, increased integration of virtual care and team-based care, and by reducing the administrative burden on providers. Any one of these changes could transform the health system, and each… necessitates change in the others.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Don’t blame family doctors for the current health care crisis
Tuesday, December 20th, 2022
… over the past decade, the number of family physicians has increased by almost a quarter. But working conditions have steadily deteriorated, and like us, many have moved into other areas of practice… we’ve long known that we need transformation of primary care systems, not just more money. Team-based models like Alberta’s Primary Care Networks and Ontario’s Family Health Teams must be supported and expanded…
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
A prescription to ease the emergency in Canada’s ERs
Friday, December 16th, 2022
Opening more doors for doctors trained elsewhere, Canadian or otherwise, is where Ottawa can focus any new dollars it commits, in co-operation with the provinces. That money should come with strings attached by government – to steer new doctors to family practices in underserved areas… We don’t know where family doctors are working, how they’re working, and where the shortages are. Collecting and collating that information… is a necessary first step.
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »