How the need for healthcare workers will only increase after 2020

 Healthcare workers comprise all parts of the healthcare sector—physicians, nurses, physical therapists, caregivers, and other allied healthcare professionals. Their primary responsibility is to provide excellent patient care through different services depending on their educational background, experience, skills, and expertise. The need for healthcare workers has only become more apparent due

Canada must learn lessons from Belgium on assisted dying legislation

 By Trudo Lemmens While we were debating in Canada the potential expansion to our Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) law, a criminal trial concluded in Belgium against three physicians involved in the death of Tine Nys. Diagnosed in 2010 at age 37 with Asperger’s, Nys received MAID under Belgium’s liberal

Provinces must act to prevent another OxyContin debacle

 By Vanessa Gruben and Louise Bélanger-Hardy This past week, 10 provincial governments have accepted a class-action settlement with Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.  The settlement concerns the misleading claims Purdue Pharma allegedly made to physicians about the addictive nature of the drug. These claims may have contributed to Canada’s

Ottawa Physicians Create Award-winning Platform, Curb Wait Times

 Group now wants to help shorten wait times in NWT Ottawa – Governments have spent decades and billions of dollars trying to resolve health care’s stubborn wait times issue.  It’s a problem that money alone cannot resolve, according to Health Minister Jane Philpott, who touts innovation and better collaboration between

Canada Has More Doctors and Health Specialists Than Ever – But is That Good News?

 The recent negotiations between the Ontario Medical Association and the Ontario Government highlight the complex relationship between physicians and health spending.  As important and trusted gatekeepers to the health care system, physicians are nevertheless a crucial component of health care costs as the total number of physicians, the volume of

Ottawa’s Most Innovative Hospital

 Tom Schonberg has been the President and CEO of Queensway Carleton Hospital (QCH) in Ottawa since 1998. He has played a big part in helping QCH become one of the top medical institutions in Ontario. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, QCH serves a population of over 400,000 each year. It

Reforming Healthcare Funding to Address the Needs of Our Aging Population

 Why we need a publicly funded insurance program for home care and long-term care By Réjean Hébert Funding home care and long-term care is fast becoming the main challenge of our outdated medicare system – a system developed in the mid-twentieth century for a young population that mostly required acute

The Last Chapter: Death on Your Own Terms

 A Supreme Court judgment now permits some Canadians to approach death on their own terms. Who should those Canadians be? An essay by Catherine Frazee For some of us, the book of life will close abruptly. A sudden pop or crunch or snap, and we’ll be gone. Perhaps some body

Health Reform in Ontario Must Include Oral Health

 A healthy mouth is part of a healthy life. The Ontario government’s proposed reform of the provincial health care system is going forward with a glaring omission: primary mouth care. To make this reform truly "Patients First," Dr. Eric Hoskins, Minister of Health and Long Term Care, must include primary

We Need Federal Leadership on Pharmaceutical Drug Coverage

 More than 300 health academics and health professional sign letter to Prime Minister Trudeau on the need for federal leadership on pharmaceutical drug coverage (Toronto and Vancouver) -- Every developed country with a universal healthcare system provides universal coverage of prescription drugs…except Canada. The problems associated with Canada's incomplete patchwork

Canada Health Infoway: Better Health Through Digital Technology

 Better Health Together through new technology. That’s what it’s all about. An important trend in health care these days is patient-centred care and convenience. The idea is that in a world driven by technological innovation, patients should be able to securely access their full medical records online. Many in the