Expanding public funding for cost-effective treatments, investing in primary care, embracing technology and engaging patients are some of the ways Canada can improve the quality of health care, according to an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
“The quality of health care in Canada is good, but arguably not great,” write Drs. Irfan Dhalla and Joshua Tepper of Health Quality Ontario. “With thoughtful change, we could all benefit from a health care system that provides safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable and patient-centred care at every opportunity.”
The article looks at the quality of health care in Canada and outlines strategies to improve it at the system level.
“We generally focus our attention at the national level; inevitably, this obscures important differences within Canada, between provinces and territories, and also between groups (e.g., Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians),” write the authors. “Also, although we focus here on health care, this does not diminish the importance of income, housing, education, social networks and other determinants of health.”
|The authors suggest the following to improve care:
The authors hope that decision-makers will consider these suggestions as a way forward for improving health care quality in Canada.
Source EurekAlert! American Association for the Advancement of Science AAAS
Improving the quality of health care in Canada, Irfan A. Dhalla, Joshua Tepper. CMAJ Oct 2018, 190 (39) E1162-E1167; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.171045
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