Should biosimilar drugs be artificially promoted in Canada?
health care costs
Is less really better? Eliminating 3- and 4-bed ward rooms in long-term care homes
Patient care at risk as Alberta refuses binding arbitration with its doctors
Why business hours are bad for hospitals
Why are medical records so difficult for patients and families to access?
Palliative care access still lacking
Palliative care improvements still in their infancy.
Health funding: Why 12 federal-provincial deals are better than none
Should markups on high-cost drugs be capped?
How to unlock the hidden potential in hospital volunteers
Is robotic surgery worth the cost?
Are disposable hospital supplies trashing the environment?
Ontario must rethink alcohol sales
Over the past five years, provincial legislative changes have made alcohol more accessible in Ontario. The structure of alcohol distribution has now become increasingly permissive due to the loosening of historical controls on a harmful substance. The trajectory of alcohol policy continues to become increasingly adverse to the health and well-being of Ontarians. Consider the …
Medical students choose wisely
As summer students working with Choosing Wisely Canada, we were part of a national, physician-led campaign to reduce unnecessary tests, treatments and procedures. The campaign has developed recommendations regarding commonly used tests, treatments or procedures that are not supported by evidence, and/or could expose patients to unnecessary harm. We feel strongly about the importance of …
Election 2015: The Health Care Debate
We need a national strategy to support unpaid caregivers
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 …
Telemedicine on the rise across Canada
It’s still far from routine, but telemedicine is quietly growing across Canada. Last year, a pilot project with a portable robot was launched in Saskatchewan. And telemedicine programs in Ontario have been growing by around 30% per year for the last several years, according to David Jensen, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health. Telemedicine can …
Can financial incentives help patients be healthier?
When Egon Jonsson was thinking about how best to support alcohol-addicted pregnant women, he thought of a controversial solution: paying them not to drink. The idea was inspired by studies that have offered shopping vouchers to pregnant women who succeed in giving up cigarettes. But when Jonsson and his team at the Institute of Health …
Is Canada paying too much for generic biological drugs?
In an earlier article, we discussed the importance of post-patent competition in generating social value from the pharmaceutical market. Generic competition gives people access to less expensive drugs and allows society to recapture value from patent holders. This topic is currently relevant because numerous major biopharmaceutical patents, including Remicade, Humira, and Lucentis, are set to …
Generic drugs: Canada needs more competition
Pharmaceutical innovations are the ultimate public good. They are ideas that make it possible for society to address otherwise unmet health care needs. As ideas, however, they are also hard to find and easy to copy. As such, fostering valued, pharmaceutical innovation is a policy paradox. In a truly “free market,” no firm would have …
Ontario’s private outpatient lab sector needs overhaul, say critics
Ontario’s system for funding private medical laboratories has been controversial since it was set up almost two decades ago. Now, facing critics who have only gotten louder, the government may be considering reform. In her mandate letter after last year’s election, Premier Kathleen Wynne asked Health Minister Eric Hoskins to “explore opportunities to optimize quality …