For example: Rationing takes place when a treatment is denied by the Canadian government. Those rationing decisions are often made by weighing the cost of the treatment against the potential improvement in the patient's health.
Like other nations experiencing limitless demand, an ageing population, and the costly advance of medical technology, Canada has faced pressure to control health expenditures. It has done so through rationing. In Canada, rationing medical care and holding down health care spending was thought to help the health care system run more efficiently and lower wait times. (Irvine, Ferguson, & Cackett, 2005).
Health care reform. The Canadian government, in an effort to improve patient care and wait times has made other recommendations: Work with the provinces and territories to ensure that meaningful reform of the Canadian health care system is undertaken, in part guided by the more successful health care models in some European countries that have demonstrated that universal, publicly funded health care systems can operate more efficiently at a lower cost and involve the private sector more fully to produce superior outcomes, with no appreciable wait lists (Reforming the Canadian Healthcare System, 2006).
Revision of rigid scope-of-practice rules. This would make health care professionals and support staff more productive, integrate health care information systems to increase the efficiency, and explore other mechanisms to address labor shortage issues in the health care system.
Hospital funding. Continue to work with the provinces and territories to change the current system of determining hospital funding. The purpose would be to recognize the need to provide incentives for increasing the volume of patients treated rather than hospitals restricting patient volume so that they don't exceed funds available in their budgets (Reforming the Canadian Health care System, 2006).
The Government's 10-Year Plan. The plan outlines strategic investments directed toward reducing waiting times for access to care, especially for cancer, heart, diagnostic imaging, joint replacement and sight restoration services. To support the reduction of wait times, the Federal Government committed to investing $4.5 billion over the next six years, beginning in 2005.
This additional investment will augment existing provincial and territorial investments and assist jurisdictions in their diverse initiatives to reduce wait times. It will primarily be used for jurisdictional priorities such as clearing backlogs, building capacity for regional centers of excellence, and expanding appropriate ambulatory and community care programs and/or tools to manage wait times (Health care system, 2008).
More health care professionals. One of the principal causes of long waits is a shortage of health care professionals in Canada. The demand for health care services keeps increasing. The health care professional workforce is ageing and static or shrinking. The Government simply needs to train, recruit, and work harder to provide and retain more of these professionals.
Accrediting and integrating foreign-trained professionals is part of the solution, but it is not a magic solution.
Clancy (2007) says that Canada can develop an adequate supply of health professionals by taking three important steps.
First, we must improve the work environment and job satisfaction for our current health professional workforce by making creative investments in financial and non-financial incentives and putting an end to an over-reliance on part-time and casual work.
Second, we must make better use of the health professionals we have presently. This means moving forward more aggressively with primary care reform, moving to team-based care, reassessing the scope and patterns of practice, and enabling health professionals to practice to their full potential in order to make the best use of skills.
Third, we must plan better for future health needs. This means we must increase enrollment spaces in health professional schools and reduce high tuition costs to train more professionals where there are severe...
" To Thomas Sowell, another opponent of the universal health care, suggests that it is necessary to first study the consequences of having a universal health care before diverting into such system. Sowell doesn't believe in a government-run health care. To him, the universal health care doesn't reduce the real cost of health care but instead reduces the amount of money a patient has to pay for at the cost of
Introduction The health care system in the United States is often compared with that of other countries, and the one that comes up the most frequently in Canada. The Canadian system has better outcomes in general than the American system, and is completely different in terms of structure. This paper will examine the key areas where the systems differ, and seek to extrapolate what that means. Basic Systems At its heart, the US
U.S. Healthcare System v. Canada Healthcare System The Canada healthcare system is usually considered as a probable model or standard for the United States healthcare system, particularly in relation to healthcare reform initiatives. The Canadian healthcare system largely differs from the United States one since it is a single-payer and largely publicly funded whereas the U.S. healthcare system is multi-payer and largely privately funded. However, Canadians and Americans seem to concur
Health Care Systems In today's advanced and modern society, which is dependent upon new and emerging technologies in almost all fields of life, the importance of health care systems cannot be denied in any case. Health care is being associated with the technological advancement as because of several new medical techniques, it has become possible to devise the treatments of many such diseases which were considered deadly in older times. On
In 2004, a Ten-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care was announced, primarily intended to improve access to medical services, decrease wait times, and update medical equipment and ensure accurate reporting and enhance public health promotion and prevention programs. Shortly thereafter, the Canadian Supreme Court affirmed the nation's health care philosophy and the immediate need to implement further improvements envisioned by the ambitious 2004 plan in striking down a Quebec law
Conclusion Based on the information currently available, the Canadian health care system is the more utilitarian and is, therefore, the better approach but those facing the need for advanced and expedient care would certainly argue otherwise. Therein lies the problem and therein lies the challenge for American society. Even the most ardent proponents of employer-based insurance plans would dare not argue that having great numbers of uninsured is the price that
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