Ontario has the highest private sector health care expenditure in the country, according to data in a recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Total public sector expenditure in Ontario in 2013 is forecasted at only 67.7% of total health care expenditure, significantly below the Canada-wide average
Continue readingAuthor: Doug Allan
Defending Public Healthcare: Physician numbers up 18% in four years
There has been a sharp increase in the number of physicians in Ontario and an even sharper increase in payments to physicians. Between 2008 and 2012 the number of physicians in Ontario has increased 18.5%. This growth is offset by population growth only very modestly: the number of physicians per
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: RPN workforce increasing in Ontario
Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) have made a modest come-back in Ontario hospitals, according to new Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data. After slipping back 1.8% in 2011, the RPN hospital workforce is up 6.3% in 2012, increasing from 13,126 to 13,954. Since 2008, the RPN hospital workforce has increased
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Sloppy reporting on unions from Globe and Mail & Canadian Press
The Globe and Mail (regurgitating the Canadian Press, apparently) gets it wrong about unions in a story in today’s print edition. They claim that “Union membership has declined in Canada in recent years”. In fact, as the easily available Statistics Canada chart copied below shows, union coverage has grown by 164,000
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Physiotherapy: One more privatization scandal?
Lurking only slightly below the surface in the recent fight over changes to funding for physiotherapy is yet another problem with health care privatization. The government is stopping the ability of 94 physiotherapy clinics to directly bill OHIP. Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews says that, over the years, licences to
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Union wage advantage grows by $1.71 per hour
The gap between union and non-union wages in Ontario has grown significantly since the start of the recession in 2008, increasing by $1.71 per hour, Statistics Canada data indicates. The hourly union advantage grew by 34 cents per hour each year on average. For a full time worker, that means the advantage
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Ontario inflation goes up
Ontario inflation is beginning to heat up. As recently as May, the year over year increase in the Consumer Price Index was a mere 0.49%. Today’s data for July indicates that Ontario prices have gone up 1.65% since last year. While this is partly due to a dip in prices in
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Hospital overcrowding ‘dangerous’ as bed shortage hits hard
Hospitals are “full to bursting” and bed use is reaching such “dangerous” levels that staff are struggling to maintain the safety and quality of patients’ care, claims an authoritative study. Alas, this report is from the Guardian and refers to developments in England. But how much more apropos if the
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: With 34,000 jobs destroyed, Ontario focuses on Jobs and Growth
With the release of the 2013-14 first quarter finances report, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa has announced the start of his own consultations on the economy. The focus (allegedly) is on “jobs and growth” . The formal pre-budget consultations with a committee of the legislature usually start in the late
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: A record drop in public sector jobs?
Much was made by the media and others in the chattering classes of the “record” drop in public sector employment reported in the July Labour Force survey by Statistics Canada last week. So, are public sector workers facing a fall? For Ontario, the figures show a drop of 23,600 in public sector employment.
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Patent transfer recommendations remains secret
The provincial Ombudsman has followed up on his damning report on the privatized, non-ambulance patient transfer industry. The Mike Harris Progressive Conservative government privatized the patient transfer industry at the turn of the century, moving the work over from Emergency Medical Services (ambulance services). Two years ago, however,
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Premiers focus on cuts and ignore falling federal health care funding
As feared yesterday— the premiers have rolled. They didn’t even dare to beg for better federal health care funding in their media release on health care from their meeting (“The Council of the Federation”) concluding in Niagara-on-the-Lake today. Indeed, their media release did not even use the word “federal” once.
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Will premiers fight for federal health care funding?
At this week’s meeting of the provincial premiers there were some sharp complaints about the federal government. But missing — so far — is any significant complaint about the one issue likely closest to the hearts of Canadians — public health care. Yet the federal government plans to kill
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Are hospitals primarily providers of acute care?
Hospitals are often stereotyped as providers of acute care services. In fact, acute care accounts for a relatively small portion of total hospital services. As noted a few days ago, costs per acute care patient (or, more exactly, per “weighted case”) in Ontario are significantly below the national average, coming
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Ontario: 6.1 fewer hours of care per hospital patient
The real costs for the average hospital acute care patient are declining. As noted yesterday this is true for both Ontario and Canada, based on data just released from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. But the CIHI data also revealed other interesting trends, likely related. Administrative Costs Decline: Administrative costs continue their long
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Costs of hospital treatment falling
Ontario has the lowest hospital cost per weighted case of all the provinces. And the cost difference between Ontario and the rest of the country is growing. Hospital Cost Per Weighted Case ($) 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Newfoundland 6,001 6,283 6,332 PEI DQ DQ 5,257 Nova Scotia 4,998 5,403 5,384 New
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Canada provides least hospital inpatient care
Canada is an extreme outlier in terms of hospital services. We provide hospital inpatient services to fewer patients than any other developed nation. The 34 member “rich nations” club, the Organization for Economic Coordination and Development (OECD) has released its 2013 comparison of health statistics for its member states.
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Non-ambulance corporations to take over more EMS work?
The Minister of Health and LTC has strongly endorsed the restructuring of patient transfer industry in the South West LHIN. This may set a new model for the private corporations that often move patients between health care facilities in vehicles that look, for all the world, like ambulances — but
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Why are fewer hospital patients waiting for LTC?
Ontario hospitals report a significant decline in the number of patients in hospital beds who are waiting for a long term care bed. From November 2009 to March 2013, the number of patients waiting for LTC was reduced by 1,282 patients, an astonishing decline of 41%. This sounds like a
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Hospital restructuring picks up (but very quietly)
Community pressures to preserve small hospitals: Local opposition to hospital cuts has driven Prince Edward County residents to demand that their local hospital be allowed to break away from the multi-site Quinte Health corporation. This is becoming a more common community demand as small hospitals trapped inside much larger multi-site
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