COVID-19 Response Lacking Information and Supplies: Crisis Working Group on Public Health and Emergency Measures
April 8, 2020 – Addressing the poor coordination of laboratory infrastructure and shortages of personal protective equipment for frontline workers must be the top priority for health officials, according to the Institute’s Crisis Working Group on Public Health and Emergency Measures. In addition, proactive guidance for health care providers and institutions about appropriate practices for directing limited supplies and their reuse would reduce the negative effects of shortages in critical supplies where they arise.
The group also noted there are still places and populations where rapid testing, widely deployed, with rigorous contact tracing and isolation could keep the virus at bay.
…Bhatia, Falk, Jamieson, Piovesan, Shaw – Virtual Healthcare Is Having Its Moment. Rules Will Be Needed
From: R. Sacha Bhatia, Will Falk, Trevor Jamieson, Carole Piovesan and James Shaw To: Healthcare policymakers Date: April 7, 2020 Re: Virtual healthcare is having its moment. Rules will be needed The global COVID pandemic has forced health systems to innovate quickly to protect patients and providers. The first priority has been to diagnose and treat the virus to […] Hitting Home: Hours And Wages Lost To Covid-19 By Location, Age, Income And Education
The economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak have begun to take hold. The need to socially distance to slow the spread of infections has resulted in many office closures, work stoppages and supply-chain disruptions. This edition of Graphic Intelligence examines recent poll data on the effect the current crisis is having on household income and […]COVID-19 Exposes Cracks in the System: Crisis Working Group on Public Health and Emergency Measures
April 1, 2020 – The Public Health and Emergency Measures crisis working group is supported by a group of health academics, professionals and business leaders and chaired by Janet Davidson, Chair of the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s Board of Directors, former Alberta Deputy Minister of Health, and C.D. Howe Institute Senior Fellow. The working group’s first meeting was held March 27, 2020.
The presence of COVID-19 in communities, unlike SARS where cases were primarily concentrated in a hospital setting, broadens the scope of treatment and adds complexity to managing the spread of disease. The challenge of ensuring adequate quantities of medicines and testing reagents, for instance, has been compounded by border…
Conference Report – Vaping and E-Cigarette Regulation in Canada
Striking the Right Balance: Vaping and E-Cigarette Regulation in Canada Experts in both the public and private sectors met at a C.D. Howe Institute conference in Ottawa to discuss the recent outbreak of vaping-related illnesses and approaches to the regulation of e-cigarette and vaping products in Canada. Presenters and participants explored how to balance […] Kronick, Omran – Coronavirus And Supply-side Shocks
To: Fiscal Policymakers From: Jeremy M. Kronick and Farah Omran Date: February 28, 2020 Re: Coronavirus and Supply-side Shocks The news on coronavirus seems to be getting worse each day. Policymakers have rightly been focused on the health of Canadians. Meanwhile, fear has reached financial markets, which have been shedding points at alarming rates the […] There is No Try: Sustainable Healthcare Requires Reining in Spending Overshoots
Provincial and territorial governments must hit their budget targets better to make publicly funded healthcare fiscally sustainable, warns a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “There is No Try: Sustainable Healthcare Requires Reining in Spending Overshoots,” William B.P. Robson compares the preliminary and later numbers in National Health Expenditure (NHEX) reports from the […] Blomqvist, Wyonch – A Voucher Model For Long-term Care
From: Åke Blomqvist and Rosalie Wyonch To: Merrilee Fullerton, Ontario Minister of Long-Term Care Date: February 18, 2020 Re: A Voucher Model for Long-Term Care Long-term care (LTC) for the frail elderly will be a critical question for Ontario and other provinces as the boomer generation enters further into seniority. Addressing elderly care needs effectively […] Rosalie Wyonch – Nudging Health: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
From: Rosalie Wyonch To: Canada’s health system administrators Date: February 5, 2020 Subject: Nudging Health: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Behavioural “nudges” can influence the choices that individuals and healthcare professionals make. A nudge changes the context of decision-making to subtly influence resulting choices. In healthcare, they can encourage appropriate prescribing practices and influence patients to better […] Bhatia, Falk, Mccready, Tepper – Responding To The Coronavirus: Building Capacity Through Virtual Care
From: R. Sacha Bhatia, Will Falk, Janine McCready, and Joshua Tepper To: Canadians Concerned about Coronavirus Date: January 28, 2020 Re: Responding to the Coronavirus: Building Capacity through Virtual Care In 2020, Canada’s health systems are better prepared to respond to the Novel Coronavirus than they were 17 years ago during the SARS outbreaks. We have learned the lessons […] There are better, cheaper ways to get Canadians the medications they need – Financial Post Op-Ed
The final report of the federal Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, which was chaired by former Ontario health minister Eric Hoskins, recommends a universal pharmacare program with Ottawa covering all incremental costs. We offer a second opinion. There are better, cheaper ways to achieve the same goal.
The council’s proposal would begin by covering 136 essential medicines as of 2022. As many observers have repeatedly warned, a one-size national program would not mesh well with existing provincial drug programs, nor with the provincially managed and funded doctor and hospital services that run alongside them. Because provincial tax-funded drug programs have varying levels of coverage and costs, the…
Sinclair, Walker, Simpson, Drummond – Assessing Ottawa’s New Health Mandate
From: Duncan G. Sinclair, David Walker, Chris Simpson and Don Drummond To: The Hon. Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health Date: December 23, 2019 Re: Assessing Ottawa’s New Health Mandate Your mandate letter from the Prime Minister last week lays out many worthwhile goals to improve healthcare by family doctors, primary health care teams, mental health services, home care […]