COVID-19 exposing cracks in our universal healthcare
equity
I’ve got cancer. Will I get the care I need during a pandemic?
Is less really better? Eliminating 3- and 4-bed ward rooms in long-term care homes
Economic abuse: The disproportionate impacts on Black women
COVID-19 testing failing marginalized communities
Low-income Ontarians facing partial claw back of federal assistance during COVID-19
COVID-19 disproportionately affects those living in poverty. And this impacts us all.
Medical research: One size doesn’t fit all
Can Ontario prove basic income works?
One year later: Are Syrian refugees finding the PTSD support they need?
Toronto transit hikes an unfair burden to low-income patients
Camille O.
Doctor on demand apps let you skip the waiting room. But experts urge caution
More Ontarians should have access to team-based primary care
In our family medicine practice, we regularly ask patients to give us feedback on how we’re doing. They tell us, over and over, that one of the things they like best about our practice is the teamwork – how much they love their doctor but also their social worker, or nurse, or dietitian. And how …
Disparities in health between north and south – we are surprised that any one is surprised
We are happy to see Health Quality Ontario (HQO) embarking on a systematic approach to assessing the quality of Ontario’s diverse health system through their “Common Quality Agenda”. This agenda is an evolving list of indicators that measure the health system along eight domains including health status, public health, primary care, hospital care, home care, …
Health care system stigmatizes and discriminates against transgender people
When Lucas Silveira – then going by his female name – told his Toronto-based family doctor he identifies as male, the doctor’s discomfort was palpable. She stumbled over her words, and then said, “I don’t really know how to help you,” recalls Silveira, a musician with the rock band The Cliks. The doctor agreed to …
What’s really driving high-cost use of health care
So-called “high-cost users” of health care – the 5% of the population who use nearly two-thirds of health care resources – have become a major policy focus, both in Canada and abroad. But in the rush to save money on the care of patients who are already high-cost users, too little attention has been paid …
We must create healthy workplaces across the health care sector
Recently, Access Alliance, a community health centre in Toronto, posed an interesting challenge to fellow health care, education, child care and social service organizations: get rid of precarious jobs in the public sector. It makes sense. An important part of the public sector’s role is to build a healthy society. Precarious jobs – temporary, part-time, …
Prescription drug coverage: how does Canada compare?
When Jennifer* was laid off, it wasn’t paying the mortgage she was worried about – it was paying her drug bill. The $24,000-a-year cost of Enbrel, used to treat her rheumatoid arthritis, had been covered by her employer. She remembers sitting in the boardroom being told she had been let go, thinking, “I’m going to …
Are sick day policies making us sicker?
This year’s flu season has been particularly nasty. In primary care, this has meant months of waiting rooms teeming with influenza and an array of different viruses. However, relatively few of these patients actually benefit from further assessment and treatment. In many cases, it’s not patients’ health concerns driving them in, but an archaic approach …