Nov.17, 2011 – Leading economist Don Drummond lays out “palatable” options to improve Canada’s healthcare system, with broad public support, in a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In Therapy or Surgery? A Prescription for Canada’s Health System, Mr. Drummond, Senior Fellow at the Institute and the Matthews Fellow in Global Public Policy at Queen’s University, provides a diagnosis, prognosis and prescription for reform of the healthcare system, with a focus on Ontario.
In the report, prepared for the annual Benefactors Lecture at the C.D. Howe Institute, Mr. Drummond says Canadians deserve better value-for-money from the system, which fares poorly in international comparisons: Canada’s healthcare system is relatively expensive, and offers limited access to quality care compared to other developed economies. The prognosis for healthcare in Canada is gloomy, he says, and the system is in danger of becoming a Pac Man that consumes excessive government revenue.
Drummond offers practical options for reform to be pursued immediately. These include: greater emphasis on health promotion; system reorganization to make it patient-centric and more responsive to growing chronic care needs; and financing mechanisms for hospitals and physicians that reward quality care, efficiency, and better use of information.
Click here for the full report.
For more information contact:
Don Drummond, Matthews Fellow in Global Public Policy at Queen’s University;
Colin Busby, Senior Policy Analyst, C.D. Howe Institute,
416-865-1904, email: cdhowe@cdhowe.org