Squabbling by provinces in the run-up to a new health accord points to the need for an agency that would share regional health-care innovations with the rest of the country, says an editorial in Canada’s premier medical journal.
Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, deputy editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), made the case in an editorial published Monday, saying spats over money and self interest could end in failed negotiations with the federal government, which must fund the proposed agency.
“A temporary tinkering with the health system, without a wholesale system change, will not deliver the health-care improvements Canadians need,” he wrote.
Much of the friction at a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial health ministers in Toronto two weeks ago stemmed from the Liberal government’s plan to adopt the former Conservative government’s decision to slash the six per cent funding increase to three per cent in a new health accord starting next April.
Stanbrook said innovation is the key to changing a health-care system that can’t be sustained as costs soar without better outcomes, especially for groups including seniors, indigenous peoples and the mentally ill.