Posts Tagged ‘Health’

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Is paying out-of-pocket for medically necessary care allowed? Doctors and nurses say patients need to know now

Wednesday, November 20th, 2024

… Canada has seen a rise of for-profit medical care in which patients pay out-of-pocket to access primary care through private clinics, virtual platforms or nurse practitioners, who are not covered by provincial health plans… the Canada Health Act’s silence regarding non-physician health-care providers creates a loophole “that certain health-care providers and their clinics are taking advantage of, knowing there is no legal consequence or risk of getting shut down.”

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These doctors can help tackle Ontario’s shortage. They just need a licence

Wednesday, November 20th, 2024

… medical residencies should have a different stream for foreign-born doctors that more accurately assesses their qualifications… the expansion of supervised clinical positions in family health teams and Indigenous health centres where these doctors could gain clinical experience while meeting the needs of underserved communities… In the short term… the government could lower barriers to licensure by waiving exam fees — which can quickly run up to thousands of dollars — and funding additional residency positions.

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Why can’t we die at home? Expanding home care could reduce the financial and environmental cost of dying in hospital

Wednesday, November 20th, 2024

Primary-care teams can act as informal managers of home care through facilitating the medical, social and comfort components of care. All of this would still add up to far less than the financial and environmental cost of hospitalization. At a time when we’re pressured to cut costs and reduce harm to the environment, and when we know dying patients would rather be at home, why can’t we help?

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Pharmacare and Access to Medicines in Canada: Is Bill C-64 a Step in the Right Direction?

Friday, November 8th, 2024

After years of change and advancement in healthcare for Canadian citizens, Bill C-64 still might fall short of providing at adequately and fairly providing pharmacare in Canada… because of the vague language of the bill and because of the unrelentless lobbying of commercial stakeholders, these first steps can very well end up even further entrenching the current inefficient, inequitable and wasteful mishmash of drug plans that has characterized Canadian drug coverage since the 1960s.

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CMA calls for elimination of sick note requirements by employers

Monday, October 28th, 2024

The association says sick notes burden physicians with unnecessary administrative tasks and detract from patient care. In a new position paper, the CMA calls for legislative changes to restrict the requirement for sick notes and promote alternatives such as self-certification and flexible leave policies… the move aims to ease the administrative burden on health care providers and improve patients’ access to care and the overall efficiency of the health care system.

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The Nurse Practitioner Answer to the Primary Care Crisis

Sunday, October 27th, 2024

Another factor [to explain Canadians’ seemingly sudden disenchantment with their healthcare system]may be the reluctance of provincial governments to undertake major institutional reforms. Since the 1990s, when serious budget deficits necessitated action, most provinces have been reluctant to provoke opposition from powerful interest groups, in particular physicians’ associations… As a result of this opposition, some NPs are underemployed in rural and remote communities or underutilized in urban hospitals…

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Why it is urgent that Ontario share health data with Ottawa

Sunday, October 27th, 2024

… every province and territory closely guard their residents’ health from the federal public health agency to varying degrees, but what’s done in the name of protecting individual privacy comes at the cost of blinding the Public Health Agency of Canada to a fuller understanding of the health of Canadians… Timely and accurate data inform sound public health policies. Their absence does the opposite, including leaving risk management to the most vulnerable.

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Province Appoints Dr. Jane Philpott as Chair of New Primary Care Action Team

Thursday, October 24th, 2024

Dr. Philpott will oversee… the connection of every Ontarian with primary care services within the next five years… with input from other primary health care leaders across the province, she will provide and implement an action plan ensuring the Minister of Health can further expand team-based primary health care across the province… This plan will ensure better service on weekends and after-hours, reducing the significant administrative burden on family doctors and other primary care professionals and improving connections to specialists and digital tools.

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Canada’s getting national pharmacare. Here’s what it means for you

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024

With the Liberal government’s pharmacare plan enacted earlier this month, the government only needs to sign individual deals with the provinces to realize widespread access to diabetes medication, like insulin, and a broad array of contraceptives… “informal” talks have already been ongoing… Ottawa can sign deals with all provinces by next spring… Ontario’s government, however, is still mulling over the fine print of the program.

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6.5 million Canadians lack a family doctor. The solution is already here

Tuesday, October 15th, 2024

In a report released this month, [three of Canada’s senators] suggest the following: accelerate a pathway for the many internationally trained doctors who are currently unable to practise in Canada…. Hundreds of ITPs currently compete for each residency spot available to them, a situation which is clearly untenable… Practice Ready Assessment[s] consist[s] of a 3-month assessment of a doctor’s competency to practise, assessed by licensed doctors in Canada while they see patients, usually in a rural or remote setting.

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