Private role in health care debate rages

Date: Nov. 23, 1999
Time: 2:58 pm

Led by Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, who last week raised hackles when he talked of contracting out certain surgical services to private sector clinics, several groups have expressed concern that Canada's publicly funded health care system cannot live up to rising expectations.

"The dimensions of this debate must also include a serious discussion about what role the private sector can play in maintaining and improving patient care, while protecting the core principles of universal access," said David MacKinnon, president of the Ontario Hospital Association during the annual OHA convention in Toronto yesterday. MacKinnon's sentiments were echoed by Ontario Medical Association Past President William Orovan, who has been calling for this type of public debate on the role of private money in Canada's health care system for almost a year.

The federal government has said little other than pledging "to protect the Canada Health Act" but has promised more research into the system.

"The Canadian Institutes on Health Information (CIHR) is putting together a plan for accumulating, analysing and publishing information that will give you an idea of the performance of the health care system," Health Minister Allan Rock said in a speech earlier this fall. "It will look at everything from the distribution of doctors and hospital beds and diagnostic equipment through to the discharge and readmission rates in hospitals, the differential outcomes, depending on treatment protocols chosen — in short, a very complete sense of health care in Canada."

While CIHR research may shed some light on what Canadians are getting for the approximately $80-billion — both in tax dollars and out of pocket — they spend on health care the first report to be released in January will only provide a basic look at the system. Rock has pledged to continue the research in the coming years, but critics say action is needed more quickly.

"Expectations may be outstripping our ability to meet them," added MacKinnon. "At some point, and I would suggest sooner rather than later, we need to decide, as a society, the level of health care we require and how we are going to sustain it."

— Steven Wharry, editor eCMAJ Today

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