Canadian physician organization: Country's health system needs to be 'massively transformed'

The Toronto Star: Canada's largest physician group released a report Tuesday saying that Canada's health system needs to be changed to allow "universal access to prescription drugs and improved outpatient services." The Canadian Medical Association called for the changes because it says the system is insufficient to meet the needs of Canada's aging population. "According to the report, Canada's health care system is underperforming on several key measures, including timely access to services and ensuring accountability. That is despite the fact Canada is one of the highest spenders of health care compared to other industrialized countries with universal health care, the report points out." Many patients without employer health plans in Canada have large out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs and "hospitals are increasingly focusing only on patients who are acutely ill." The reports also suggests using pay-for-performance funding to reward quality of care and a greater reliance on e-prescribing (Boyle and Yang, 8/3).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.