Ontario’s physicians are vital caregivers in the province. Their salaries represent the second largest line item in health spending. And they are not happy. Negotiations between doctors, represented by the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), and the Ontario government, have been on ice for almost two years. During the past several years, they have been without …
Patients and their families have many people who contribute to their care – different types of providers in different departments and institutions. Yet, despite sharing the goal of improving the same patient’s health, providers often don’t communicate with one another – as many patients know all too well. Many policy makers and providers are currently …
Normally, when people have worked together to do something they know will inevitably result in many deaths, they are prosecuted for murder or conspiracy. When a product is found to be unsafe, such as tainted meat, it is immediately recalled and destroyed. When something is discovered to be carcinogenic, like asbestos, we stop producing it …
Making doctors responsible for the patients in their geographical area. Offering primary care after-hours and on the weekends. And pushing away from solo practitioners and towards interprofessional care. Those proposals were all in the recently released “Patient Care Groups: A new model of population based primary health care for Ontario,” led by McMaster University’s David Price …
Ian Stedman always wore long sleeves and pants to hide his rash. As a child, he didn’t go swimming with other kids. He’d miss a few days of school each month because of severe joint pain and headaches. He spent his childhood and early adult life “bouncing around from doctor to doctor.” No one knew …
For the third time in three years, the Ontario government has moved to unilaterally cut the fees it pays to Ontario physicians. In response, Ontario doctors have taken to the social media airwaves, engaging in a Facebook and Twitter campaign opposing the cuts and attempting to convey that cuts to physician compensation will lead to …
Canadian media coverage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement has almost exclusively focused on the effects the deal would have on the economy, especially the dairy industry and auto sector. The implications for health and health care have hardly received any media attention in Canada. We feel this is a grave oversight. After all, the …
Doctors who solely provide methadone therapy to treat addiction to narcotics say they’re facing reductions of around 25% to their income, as a result of cuts to the fees for urine tests announced this month by the Ministry of Health. Some addictions doctors and public health experts across the province are sounding alarm that this cut could …
The phenomenon is not exactly marginal: according to a recently released government report, one in every three workers in Canada is assisting a chronically disabled person — many of them seniors — with transportation, household maintenance or day-to-day tasks. The 6.1 million employed workers who are providing such care, free of charge, to a family member or friend …
Three years ago, I commented on the then new (2012) OMA and Government agreement. I expressed scepticism at the time that the Agreement would truly result in the freeze (and indeed savings) the Government asserted that it would, especially without a hard or soft cap on utilization growth. As it turns out, at least according …
Last week, taking in the failed negotiations between the MOHLTC and the OMA, Dr. Mario Elia voiced his thoughts in the Healthy Debate column: “Ontario doctors vs. Ontario government: we need better”. The ‘we’ in Dr. Elia’s title refers to the collective group of physicians represented by the OMA, and his arguments draw attention to …
Like most Ontario physicians, I’ve spent the past few days trying to digest our failed negotiations with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). I don’t typically consider myself to be someone who is particularly passionate about matters of remuneration. I generally feel I’m paid adequately for the services I provide, and I think most physicians …
A while ago I finished two weeks working on the palliative care service at St. Michael’s Hospital. As usual it was a moving, stressful, rewarding, frustrating, exhilarating, humbling, human experience. Working clinically provides me with a reality check for the other parts of my professional life which focus mostly on health services research and health …
For years, health care spending in Canada (both public and private) grew much faster than the economy. Until very recently, this trend was expected to continue, casting doubt on the sustainability of Canada’s health care system. However, recent data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows that growth in health care spending in 2013 …
Several recent commentaries have suggested that public health practitioners should ‘keep out of politics’. Commentators have suggested that public health should focus on its traditional roots of controlling the spread of infectious diseases, such as Ebola, rather than on social issues, such as poverty reduction. The work of public health should be evidence-informed and focus …