William Robson – Setbacks in the Struggle to Constrain Provincial Healthcare Budgets
From: William Robson To: Canada’s Health Ministers Date: December 20, 2016 Re: Setbacks in the Struggle to Constrain Provincial Healthcare Budgets The 2016 release of the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s National Health Expenditures (NHEX) database contained two items of disquieting news, one immediately noticeable, the other getting less attention than it should. More noticeable […] What We Need More than a New Health Accord: A Revenue-Sharing Accord: Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Last week, Canada’s federal and provincial health ministers were engaged in negotiations about the future federal transfers to the provinces for health. The negotiations appear to have ended in a standoff, with provincial governments insisting that there have to be bigger transfers in order for them to offer even current levels of care, and the federal government refusing to increase the transfers significantly unless the provinces agree to a set of conditions in a new Health Accord.
The best outcome would be to leave matters as they are: There should be no new transfers beyond those already scheduled, with or without conditions.
Jane Philpott, the federal Health Minister, should be commended for her explicit recognition…
Busby & Jacobs – Beware the Alchemy of Age-Adjusted Health Transfers
From: Colin Busby and Aaron Jacobs To: Federal and Provincial Health Ministers Date: September 14th, 2016 Re: Beware the Alchemy of Age-Adjusted Health Transfers With Health Accord negotiations between the provinces and Ottawa underway, at its annual general meeting the Canadian Medical Association endorsed a federally-funded “top-up” for provinces coping with older-than-average populations. It’s well-known that […] Blomqvist and Busby – Physician Compensation (Part III)
From: Åke Blomqvist and Colin Busby To: Provincial Ministries of Health, The Ontario Medical Association and other Provincial Medical Associations Date: September 9, 2016 Re: Physician Compensation: The Long, Long Run – Levelling the Playing Field in Negotiations (Part III) The Canada Health Act stipulates that provincial plans must provide for “reasonable compensation for… services rendered […] Blomqvist and Busby – Physician Compensation (Part II)
From: Åke Blomqvist and Colin Busby To: Provincial Ministries of Health, The Ontario Medical Association and other Provincial Medical Associations Date: September 8, 2016 Re: Physician Compensation: How We Pay Doctors Matters More Than How Much We Pay Them (Part II) Binding arbitration can be very costly, which is one reason the Ontario government should not […] Healthcare Spending Decelerating? Not so Fast!
Revised estimates for 2014 healthcare spending growth show increases larger than initially reported – which continues a worrisome trend, says a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Healthcare Spending Decelerating? Not so Fast!,” author William B.P. Robson warns that initial estimates based on provincial budgets have typically misled Canadians into thinking healthcare spending is under […] Blomqvist and Busby – Physician Compensation (Part I)
From: Åke Blomqvist and Colin Busby To: Provincial Ministries of Health, The Ontario Medical Association and other Provincial Medical Associations Date: September 7, 2016 Re: Physician Compensation: Ontario’s Deal, Dilemma, and Why It Affects Health System Performance (Part I) In a general meeting on August 14, members of the Ontario Medical Association rejected a four-year contract […] We Have More Doctors And Specialists Than Ever – But Is That Good News?: Globe And Mail Op-ed
The recent negotiations between the Ontario Medical Association and the Ontario government highlight the complex relationship between physicians and health spending. As important and trusted gatekeepers to the health care system, physicians are nevertheless a crucial component of health care costs as the total number of physicians, the volume of health services they provide and the cost per service come together. While governments such as Ontario have been focusing on reducing or holding physician fees steady as a cost control measure, health care spending is also affected by the overall number of physicians we have and the number of services each provides to their patients.
Across the country, provinces are trying to…
Colin Busby – The Feds Can Lead on Measuring Health Outcomes
From: Colin Busby To: Federal and Provincial Ministers of Health Date: August 26th, 2016 Re: The Feds Can Lead on Measuring Health Outcomes The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) thirty country comparison of healthcare performance shows Canada in a somber light: Canada performs the middle of the pack when compared to other countries, but […] There’s no proof we’re curing high health-care costs for the long term: Calgary Herald Op-Ed
In a now familiar move, the government of Alberta is hoping to put the province back in the black in part by keeping a lid on health spending over the next few years.
The province is hardly alone in adopting this tactic. Provincial health spending has entered a new era of restraint, with Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick at the head of the pack. But it is unclear whether publicly funded health systems have achieved lasting efficiency gains by “bending the health-care cost curve,” as Finance Minister Joe Ceci has repeatedly remarked.
After all, we have witnessed a similar narrative before: in the mid-1990s, many provincial governments managed to reduce health spending — Alberta the most dramatic among them. However, in the…
Hold the Applause: Why Provincial Restraint on Healthcare Spending Might Not Last
There is no clear evidence that a lasting period of health spending restraint is underway, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Hold the Applause: Why Provincial Restraint on Healthcare Spending Might Not Last,” authors Livio Di Matteo and Colin Busby examine whether the recent downward bending of the provincial healthcare […] Busby and Di Matteo – Why Ottawa Should Resist Provincial Calls for More Health Dollars
From: Livio Di Matteo and Colin Busby To: Ministers of Finance and Health Canada Date: July 20, 2016 Re: Why Ottawa Should Resist Provincial Calls for More Health Dollars High on the agenda of this week’s premiers meeting in Whitehorse is whether to demand more federal cash in negotiations over a new health accord. The prior […]