health care system Archives - Page 5 of 5

What’s at risk for Canada in the American health-care war?

May 7, 2017

America is facing a growing threat to the health of its citizens. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA). If the bill becomes law, it could leave millions in the U.S. without health care. And it could have an impact in Canada, too – but not for the reasons you might expect.

Why is the issue of health care in the U.S. so fraught? And is Canada immune to the social whiplash under way just south of us? As physicians observing from both sides of the border, we see two key reasons why this issue continues to polarize opinion in the U.S. But it is ultimately trade policy, not health policy, that will put Canadian medicare in the cross hairs.

Our Sick Health Care System

May 6, 2017

One way or another, we will have socialized medicine in this country. Politicians have raised and nurtured generations of people that expect something for nothing in exchange for votes. We have imported, legally and illegally, millions of uneducated, unskilled workers that can’t afford a band-aid. We have millions of students ‘graduating’ high school that can’t read, thus, unable to get a good job with health insurance.

We have a health care system where the middle class is strapped with not only their health care bills, but the bills of the people who did not pay. We have a health care system that cannot or will not control its costs of care while the number of people able to afford it dwindles. We have a system where an MRI costs $6,000 in one hospital, $4500 in another hospital and $250 in another hospital if you can pay cash.

Mental health patients strapped, held down in Australian public hospitals, report reveals

May 5, 2017

New data has revealed how often mental health patients in Australia’s public hospitals are being restrained — either by being strapped or held down — with advocates warning the practice re-traumatises people and delays their recovery.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report revealed people were being held down on average at a rate of nine times for every 1,000 days spent in a facility.

Mechanical restraints such as straps, belts and manacles were less-commonly used, at under two events per 1,000 bed days.

Nationally, children were being physically restrained 10.9 times per 1,000 days in a mental health bed, while forensic services — which includes prisoners — was far higher at 110.2 incidents per 1,000 days.

Taking a stand for patients rights’ and health-care choice

April 30, 2017

“The most advanced justice system in the world is a failure if it does not provide accessible justice to the people it is meant to serve.”

That was Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin speaking last year. Now, a landmark Charter health-care case in British Columbia is showing just how empty the promise of access to justice can be if the government is determined to block it.

The plaintiffs’ case is straightforward: if the government fails to provide patients with timely medical treatment, then it cannot stop them from taking control of their own health and arranging for private treatment to alleviate their suffering.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that such restrictions violated the patients’ rights more than a decade ago. Since then, provinces have continued to unconstitutionally restrict patient choice even as the problem of wait lists has worsened.

KPMG to look for ‘waste, inefficiency’ in Manitoba’s health-care system

November 4, 2016

The consulting firm KPMG LLP has been awarded a government contract to find ways to eliminate waste in Manitoba’s health care system and improve its efficiency and responsiveness.

The province says the government, regional health authorities, Diagnostic Services of Manitoba, Cancer Care Manitoba and the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba will be included in the Health Care Sustainability and Innovation Review.

Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen says the firm will look at whether services are being provided at a reasonable cost, if they’re producing good results and if expectations are being met.

He says in a release that the review — which was promised by the Progressive Conservatives several months ago — is timely in light of pending cuts to the Canada Health Transfer.

Goertzen also wants a first ministers meeting with the prime minister to discuss what he calls a long-term, predictable and flexible funding mechanism for health care.

Source: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/kpmg-to-look-for-waste-inefficiency-in-manitobas-health-care-system/

Focus on innovation, not more cash, to improve health care in Canada: doctor

November 1, 2016

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.

Source: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/focus-on-innovation-not-more-cash-to-improve-health-care-in-canada-doctor-1.3139392