Over the last few years, I have seen in my role an increasing need for community programs to support specific populations for maintaining quality of life and reducing hospital admissions. This statement by Flood (2016) really resonates with me:
“A modern health care system is not one that prioritizes hospital services or physician services simply because they are delivered in hospitals or by physicians. Instead, a modern system will rationally evaluate the evidence and impact of a broad range of services that can advance human health and decide which of these services should be insured for the community at that time.”
Building community programs requires resources who can best support our Albertans with the right competencies. These are examples of programs that I have advocated in the last five years – Chronic Ventilation Patients, COPD/CHF patients, Home Pulse oximetry monitoring for COVID –19 patients and medical optimization of Cardiac Device patients. To implement programs safely the healthcare system requires funding and a new way of allowing patients to be cared for in the communities such as virtual health. Friends of Medicare in Canada (2019) have shared that:
“The original vision for medicare is not yet complete”. We are still lacking in public delivery of services in continuing care and have yet to add pharmaceutical, dental, vision care, and other services to the medicare umbrella of universal coverage. In order to achieve that vision, our health care system requires more investment, not less.”
This implies that additional resources are required to continue the vision of Tommy Douglas and this support and leadership is required by both Federal and Provincial government. Now, let’s take a look at this current health care issue voiced by Friends of Medicare in Canada have raised for Alberta and how I support their opinion using the five principles of the CHA.
Health Care Issue: Friends of Medicare support the expansion of medicare through the implementation of a national drug plan for all (Friends of Medicare in Canada, 2019).
Public Administration The plan would control the high price of drugs by allowing providers to negotiate good prices and reduce administrative costs
Comprehensiveness Provincial plans must insure all services are provided. Currently we limit continuity of care once prescriptions are provided to patients. Many patients cannot afford the medications they are prescribed and therefore don’t have access. This makes our current Medicare program fragmented.
Universality The plan would improve drug safety and proper prescribing practices. By providing universal access to prescriptions we will allow patients to recover quickly and manage chronic health problems.
Accessibility The goal is to address the lack of access to prescription drugs. There are financial barriers preventing seniors and chronically ill Albertans from obtaining medications that keep them healthy and out of the hospital
Portability This would follow the same current Medicare portability of insurance overage across Canada which would include necessary prescription medications.
In conclusion, the public requires a great collaboration amongst our international, Federal and Provincial/territorial leaders to implement community programs and services to improve health outcomes. It can easily be seen in this example that we are on the right track. To continue this path we need to continue to advocate for Federal government support and keep in mind equal access and consider social determinants that may be impacting the emerging medical crisis. This idea is also supported by Hutchison, Levesque, Strumpf & Coyle (2011) when they completed their policy analysis and concluded that “Canada’s experience suggests that primary health care transformation can be achieved voluntarily in a pluralistic system of private health care delivery, given strong government and professional leadership working in concert”. Therefore, we should continue to collaborate and take a team approach to deal with medical issues and invest the time and money to help improve our medical system to improve future health outcomes.
Hutchison, B, Levesque, J-F., Strumpf, E., Coyle, N. (2011). Primary health care in Canada:
systems in motion. The Milbank Quarterly, 89,2, 256–288.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0009.2011.00628.x
Flood, C. M. & Thomas, B. P. (2016). Modernizing the Canada Health Act. Ottawa Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2017-08. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2907029
Friends of Medicare. (2019). Public health care.
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