From the Burgundy Chairs

Artificial intelligence has made remarkable advancements in recent years, with the potential to revolutionize the health care industry. From aiding in disease diagnosis and treatment planning to optimizing patient care and streamlining administrative tasks, AI systems can enhance medical outcomes and improve the overall efficiency of health care delivery. However, along with these promising advanc...

Artificial intelligence has made remarkable advancements in recent years, with the potential to revolutionize the health care industry. From aiding in disease diagnosis and treatment planning to optimizing patient care and streamlining administrative tasks, AI systems can enhance medical outcomes and improve the overall efficiency of health care delivery. However, along with these promising advanc...

Canadians take pride in the health care system. However, access to health care services across Canada remains an ongoing challenge. The pressures within our system – an aging population, chronic illness, hallway medicine and increased demand, among others – have only been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadians, be they patients, health care workers, or otherwise, expect more from their hea...

There is a strong belief in Canada that our health system is inherently “universal” and “public”, despite longstanding and long-term collaborations between partners from across sectors. Recent debates about the pros and cons of opening health care to “other organizations” have ramped up on the heels of Ontario’s February 2023 announcement to expand the role of private clinics in the province’s del...

First Nations communities experience inequitable access to health care, as well as a disproportionate burden of harm related to substance use. It is now widely recognized that this reality reflects the impact of policies implemented to assimilate Indigenous peoples, as well as the effects of grief and chronic trauma on First Nations communities. These policies have had devastating intergenerationa...

With April being Parkinson’s Awareness Month, and April 11 being World Parkinson’s Day, Parkinson Canada is sharing the story of the “Why”; why Parkinson’s continues to be so prominent in Canada. Parkinson Canada is also sharing the “How”, exploring the four pillars of support Parkinson Canada provides, including funding critical research, providing support programs and resources, advocating along...

Canadians rightfully ask why it takes so long to access new, innovative medicines. Government’s ability to review, approve and regulate the marketing of drugs is a robust, complex process. This is particularly true in Canada for people who need treatments for rare diseases, where access can vary based on where they are located in the country. While the federal government has spent the last two yea...

Across Canada, access to health care remains an ongoing challenge and the pressures within our system – aging population, chronic illness, hallway medicine and increased demand – have only been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. As health care continues to be debated in legislatures, virtual forums and at dinner tables across the country, we must ask hard questions and find ways to reimagine the...

Moving beyond COVID-19 will require a multi-faceted solution that involves government, the health care sector and the will of the Canadian population.  Pre-existing issues that have been amplified throughout the pandemic, including the health human resource crisis. Advocates have called on all levels of government to address the shortage of staff across the continuum of care. With time running out...

Earlier this year, the Government of Canada began a public consultation on their 2019 commitment for a national strategy to address high-cost rare drugs. Now, almost seven months after the start of the public consultation and years after their initial commitment, there are few details on the strategy itself or how the government intends to invest $500 million per year set to begin in 2022.    In t...

Vaccination numbers are rising and Canada is now emerging from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This episode spotlights the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (CADTH) and how the organization is incorporating key lessons learned as it prepares to refresh its own strategy later this year. CADTH’s previous strategic plan covered the period of 2018-2021, but due to the all-consumin...

Ontario has been in and out of lockdowns over the past year. Experts have alluded to a fourth wave that could be more disastrous than the first three due to the mental health and addiction crises that have been pushed aside due to COVID-19. With more Ontarians facing addictions and mental health challenges now than ever before, we are checking the temperature of mental health and addictions in Ont...

The past 12 months have been a historic period of challenge and change for Canadian health care charities. The pandemic has impacted how they fundraise, conduct research programs, engage donors and volunteers, and ultimately deliver support to Canadians living with disease. Despite this, health charities have adapted and found new ways to operate virtually, help to slow the spread of COVID-19 and...

Last October, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) published new guidelines aimed at modernizing Canada’s pricing framework for patented medicines. The guidelines and regulations are the culmination of a five-year process that began in 2016 and the regulations are currently scheduled to be implemented on July 1, 2021. What changes in the Canadian pharmaceutical market drove these refo...

2020 will undoubtedly be remembered as a challenging year for Canada’s health care system. From hospital capacity challenges to the realities of staff burnout, all facets of the health sector have been impacted by COVID-19 in some shape or form. Despite a turbulent year, there are positive examples across the country of initiatives, successes and wins within our health care system. Physician Assis...

Like many jurisdictions in Canada, Ontario is struggling to regulate health professionals in a way that both protects patients and the public, but also provides flexible oversight to ensure health professionals are able to exercise their full scope of practice including their depth of knowledge, specific skill set and professional judgement. In this episode, Harry Cayton, former Chief Executive of...

It’s been one week since Governor General Julie Payette delivered the Speech from the Throne, opening Parliament with a significant commitment to long-term care. But what now? What will the national standards for long-term care mean for operators and, most importantly, residents and staff? In this episode, Jodi Hall, Chair of the Canadian Association for Long Term Care (CALTC), joins Patrick Nelso...

The Ontario Long Term Care Association’s Wave 2 Action Plan for long-term care consists of 11 elements that aim to ensure long-term care homes have what they need moving forward to prevent and contain COVID-19. In this episode, Donna Duncan, Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA), joins Patrick Nelson to look back at lessons learned from the first wave of the pan...

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges and, at the same time, a unique opportunity to embrace digital health solutions. Responding to COVID-19 requires swift and innovative thinking, and although digital health has been on governments’ radars for decades, progress has been slow. Is the pandemic an opportunity to address the longstanding gaps in health technology? Will it moti...

On July 8, the federal Liberal government updated the country on Canada’s finances. This fiscal snapshot was unlike any other as it arrived after four months of reactionary spending as the Trudeau Government responded to COVID-19. As the government moves beyond the emergency phase of its response and into a new recovery phase, what can we expect next? Will we see the budget originally drafted for...

Building capacity in Ontario’s hospitals has been a core pillar in the province’s COVID-19 response. More than three months after the provincial government declared a state of emergency, the question is, how are our hospitals holding up? How are they navigating this next — somewhat uncertain — phase in Ontario’s health care transformation plans? In this episode, Dr. Naveed Mohammad, President and...

Almost a year and a half ago, Ontario introduced its large-scale plan to integrate health care providers with the goal of creating a patient focused and streamlined system. However, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the province just a few months after the first Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) were announced in December 2019. In this episode, Keltie Gale, Senior Consultant at Santis Health, and Susan Fitzpatr...

We know older adults are at a higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 — so why are we seeing outbreaks in senior populations? In this episode, Dan Carbin and Dr. Samir Sinha explore the systemic vulnerabilities and the “double standard” in curbing the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Samir Sinha is a longtime advocate for the needs of older adults. He currently serves as the Dir...

In this episode, we called Physician Assistant and former journalist, Maureen Taylor, to discuss the lessons learned from the 2003 SARS outbreak and how Canada is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic 17 years later. Maureen Taylor is a Physician Assistant specializing in infectious diseases at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto. She has worked at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre as a Physician Ass...

Veronica Said, a Consultant at Santis Health, sits down with Dr. Sarah Jarmain and Adrienne Spafford to discuss Roadmap to Wellness, the Ontario Government's recently announced mental health and addictions strategy. In this episode, we discuss the current state of addictions and mental health care in Ontario, what the strategy gets right, where the strategy could improve and how the sector is resp...