Reforms to the way that Ontario community pharmacies are compensated for professional services, combined with an expanded scope of practice for pharmacists, are presenting major adjustment and implementation challenges for the profession. The changes are part of a culture change ushered in by a general shift in health care towards a push for greater inter-professional …
Canada is the only country in the world that provides universal public insurance for medical and hospital care but not for prescription drugs. Is this a desirable divide in health policy or a failing of our health care system? If the latter, what would our system ideally look like? In an effort to answer this …
The Personal Health Navigator is available to all Canadian patients. Questions about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system can be sent to AskLisa@Sunnybrook.ca The Question: Does OHIP cover all of the costs associated with valve replacement surgery? The Answer: The short answer is yes, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan does cover the cost …
The Personal Health Navigator is available to all Canadian patients. Questions about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system can be sent to AskLisa@Sunnybrook.ca The Question: I am pregnant and my expected due date is in June. I currently live outside Canada, and would want to go back to Toronto for delivery. I …
Chris’ story Chris is a family doctor at a Family Health Team in a Southern Ontario farming community (some details including his name have been changed to protect his and his patients’ identities). He sees many children and youth who have mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and severe ADHD. While he can care for …
In our society, the disease of schizophrenia is shrouded in fear, isolation and ignorance. The initial symptoms, which include hearing voices, mental delusions and paranoia, may at first be attributed to a bad day, an odd drug reaction, or any other number of conditions. Someone having these experiences does not suspect that a journey is …
Canadians are proud of Medicare and consistently report being satisfied with the health care services they receive. But, perhaps they should be demanding better. The most recent Health Council of Canada report highlights findings from the 2012 Commonwealth Fund survey of primary care physicians in 10 high income countries. In almost all areas – from …
The Personal Health Navigator is available to all Canadian patients. Questions about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system can be sent to AskLisa@Sunnybrook.ca The Question: I would like to know if Canadian hospitals accept international patients and if so, what is the process? My brother needs a full check up. The Answer: You …
Five years ago, researchers in Ontario raised concerns about access and quality in privately owned clinics that performed colonoscopy, suggesting that the quality in these clinics was significantly below the standard of care in public hospitals. Privately owned clinics can be either for-profit or not-for-profit. Medical services provided at these private clinics are paid for …
There is a major gap between public health messages, women’s intentions and actual practices when it comes to breastfeeding. I’ve experienced this first hand as a new mother. The major topic of conversation amongst new mothers tends to center around breastfeeding and ensuring that our babies’ needs are being met. Whether your baby is getting …
Over the last year, reports have suggested some of Ontario’s new primary care models, which are significantly more expensive than older practice models, have had limited success in improving access and quality. In response, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care is conducting a review of these models, and had recently instituted a temporary …
My parents (86 years old, married 61 years) have only rarely been separated in the last 20 years. They have dementia and osteoporosis and additional health concerns. Three years ago their problems became acute, Dad was on the verge of burn-out as caregiver and it became clear they couldn’t manage at home any longer. I …
In recent weeks, I have read several reports on the health of immigrants in Canada. All these reports are unanimous in their conclusion that immigrants are healthier than Canadians when they arrive in Canada. However, over a 10 year period, their health deteriorates, with increasing rates of heart disease, hypertension, blood pressure, autism, diabetes and …
About one in four Ontarians visit a walk-in clinic each year. While the government has made access to family doctors a key priority, there is no policy framework for walk-in clinics. Although walk-in clinics have been part of Ontario’s health care landscape for decades, they remain controversial. Walk-in clinics have generally been excluded from government …
Nurse practitioners are a key plank of government efforts to improve access to primary care. However, a continuing gap in pay and benefits for nurse practitioners who choose to work in primary care compared to those who work in hospitals, limits recruitment and retention to community settings. From a zippy online campaign to an economist-authored …
Ontario recently announced funding for two birth centres that will be led by midwives. The government has indicated it is opening birth centres partly to move care out of hospitals and save money. Although birth centres are probably safe and may improve maternity care, it is less clear whether Ontario’s birth centres will indeed reduce …
In the last decade, efforts to improve access to primary care in Ontario have led to major changes to how family doctors practice and are paid. A recent report suggests that these newer models of primary care are not meeting the needs of vulnerable populations, and that Community Health Centres (an older model of care) do …
My friend Ron is an energetic seventy-year-old who is diabetic. We live in northwestern Ontario, in a town called Kenora, two hundred kilometers east of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Ron’s life has just been complicated by the fact that his family doctor moved away recently. Why is this a particular complication for him? Because the lab in …
Improving access to primary care has been a key priority of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for the past decade. The number of Ontarians who have a regular family doctor has increased dramatically. However, patients who are chronically ill continue to have problems accessing primary care. More family doctors and more rostered …
The acting editor of the CMAJ has sparked a controversy weighing in to a debate about parking, suggesting that parking near health facilities should be subsidized. Assuming such a policy can be operationalized (how near? For whom?), the underlying issue is an interesting and global one. When I was first appointed as a Board chair in …