The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is hoping in 2023, the federal, provincial and territorial governments will work together to resolve the health systems crisis.
President Dr. Alika Lafontaine says, “While governments argue over how Canada’s 13 health systems should be funded, patients continue to suffer. Nearly five million Canadians do not have a primary care provider. Emergency departments routinely close due to staff shortages. Hundreds of thousands of patients on surgical waitlists and health service backlogs remain. Physicians and other healthcare workers continue to work overtime as they try to provide care to those who need it most, worsening already existing burnout.
He adds that targeted funding is needed to support fast-growing demand and aging populations, “Beyond these much-needed strategic investments, rethinking how care is delivered now and into the future to address the many challenges our health systems are facing is critical. The CMA continues to urge governments to collaborate across jurisdictional silos to address the root causes of our health systems crisis.”
The CMA has recommended several steps to stabilize and rebuild health systems, including:
- increasing the Canada Health Transfer to better support provincial/territorial health systems;
- establishing a pan-Canadian licensure model to expand the mobility of medical professionals;
- scaling up collaborative primary care to foster integrated care for patients; and
- creating a national health human resources strategy to plan for the recruitment and retention of health workers.
Dr. Lafontaine says the CMA remains a ready, willing partner to support the stabilization and rebuilding of our health systems.
