Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse
There are conspiracy theories that really makes one question the collective sanity of the public.
For example, there is a current theory that suggest that lizard-people govern the United States (a stunning 4 percent of the U.S. population actually believe this one).
There’s another conspiracy theory that the U.S government controls people’s thoughts with television programing — an even more stunning 15 percent believe this theory.
Read more at The Creightonian
Overcrowding at Ontario hospitals has become so serious that the sector is “on the brink” of a “crisis,” warns its umbrella organization, using uncharacteristically alarming language.
Leaders from the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) plan to go to Queen’s Park to plead their case for more funding on Thursday. They are seeking a 4.55 per cent increase in operating funding for 2018-19, according to their prebudget submission, an advanced copy of which has been obtained by the Star.
Read more at Toronto Star
A Safeway pharmacist has been arrested on dozens of drug and theft charges after more than 33,000 tablets of narcotics went missing from the pharmacy where she worked in Okotoks, Alta., over a period of five years.
Police allege Leanne Rogalsky, 52, created fake patient records and then used fake prescriptions under those patients’ names to take the narcotics from the pharmacy.
Read more at CBC News
Former Order of Canada recipient Dr. Ranjit Kumar Chandra fleeced OHIP for more than $2 million through a false billings scheme in which he paid patients and others for their health card numbers, a college prosecutor alleged Wednesday.
Dr. Chandra, 79, is in ailing health and living in India and will no longer practise in Ontario. He’s denying the allegations of professional misconduct as he’s being tried in absentia at a College of Physicians and Surgeons disciplinary hearing.
Read more at Toronto Sun
Dr. Nigel Murray, the former chief executive officer of Fraser Health who resigned three years ago from his high-paid post in B.C. to take a similar job in New Zealand, has resigned again and remains under a cloud of suspicion there over excessive, unauthorized expense claims.
Murray was the highest paid ($444,000 total compensation) health authority CEO when he worked in B.C. from 2007 to 2014. He then moved back to his native New Zealand but resigned as the chief of the Waikato district board last month after an independent inquiry found numerous potential breaches of his financial obligations.
Read more at Edmonton Journal
(CNN) One physician had his prescription pad taken away after he repeatedly failed tests assessing his competency.
Another was banned from treating mentally ill inmates and accused of endangering nursing home patients by prescribing excessive dosages of medications.
At least three others had criminal convictions for illegal prescribing.
Avanir Pharmaceuticals paid nearly 500 doctors to speak or consult on its drug, Nuedexta, between 2013 and 2016, according to government data. Through a review of the top prescribers and top paid physicians in this group, CNN identified a dozen who have been disciplined by state medical boards. These offenses included the harmful treatment of nursing home residents and “grossly negligent acts” involving the inappropriate prescribing of dangerous and addictive drugs — resulting in probation, suspension, fines and revoked licenses.
Read more at CNN
Alberta physicians will soon have to check the medical histories of their patients before prescribing opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants and sedatives.
The measure is part of a new mandatory rule passed Friday by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.
“The new standard means there are more checks and balance in place for drugs that are subject to misuse and abuse,” said Kelly Eby, the college’s director of communications and government relations.
Read more at CBC News
When it comes to pharmaceuticals, seniors tend to be super users. Two-thirds of those in long-term care facilities take 10 or more medications, according to a 2012 Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) report.
Even among active older Canadians, pharmaceutical use is high. A poll of 5,190 CARP members in July revealed that, while 10 per cent use no prescription medications, CARP members are prescribed four medications each on average and five per cent take 10 or more.
Read more at National Post
Britain’s competition watchdog is accusing a Canadian drug company of making tens of millions of dollars by overcharging the British healthcare system and exploiting its patients.
Until this year, Concordia International was the U.K.’s only provider of liothyronine, a thyroid drug that’s primarily used to treat a condition caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormone. For British patients, such as Felicity Hart who had her thyroid removed in 2010, the tablets are literally a life-saver.
Read more at Global News
The overall number of prescriptions for opioids has increased over the last five years, but doctors have been giving patients fewer doses at one time, a report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information has found.
The report, released Wednesday, shows the number of opioid prescriptions rose by almost seven per cent between 2012 and 2016, while daily doses on average dropped by five per cent — to 226 million from 238 million.
Last year, 21.5 million prescriptions for the potent painkillers were dispensed, up from 20.2 million prescriptions in 2012, CIHI reported. Most were for chronic non-cancer pain relief.
Read more at CTV News