Canada’s health care system is stuck firmly in the past
We’re entering the holiday season, when family traditions take centre stage. Tell me if you’ve heard this one – or something similar – before. A holiday turkey, part of an epic, three-generations’ old family recipe, is cut on both ends. Perplexed with this step, a mother is asked why. Not knowing why either, the mother suggests contacting the grandmother. “I don’t know,” she responds, “but you can ask your great-grandmother.
Over time, our 13 different provincial/territorial health systems evolved different regulations, policies, workflows and programs. Within those regimes, different nomenclature, categorization and organization developed. As a result, we now have jurisdictionally isolated health human-resource plans, health access fragmentation, care segmentation and uneven modernization. Health systems across provinces have great difficulty working smoothly with each other.
When confronted with a need for deeper collaboration and co-ordination with between levels of government, we rely on thinking first framed in 1867. The writers of the British North America Act didn’t envision Canada would ever emancipate itself from British rule, much less build publicly funded health systems that service 38 million people. It was never imagined that data, when shared deliberately and transparently, could drive quality and efficient care.
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