Canadian Health Care Policy Reform

This guide is a starting point for research into the health care policy reform in Canada. If you want to suggest additions or make comments, contact Anna Krangle-Long, the Liaison Librarian for the Faculty of Health Sciences, 778.782.4962 or akrangle@sfu.ca.

Contents:

• Government sites
• Reactions to Romanow
• Background
• Books
• Articles

Government sites

• Canada Health Act
• Institute of Health Services and Policy Research
• Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada
  • Roy Romanow's final report Building on Values: The Future of Health Care in Canada [.pdf] (Nov. 28, 2002)
• Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada (Krever Commission)
• Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology. The Health of Canadians – The Federal Role: Final Report (Oct 2002) AKA the Kirby Report.

Reactions to Romanow

• Resources from the Canadian Health Coalition
• The Ontario Disabled Women's Network. contains links to the full text of reactions to the Romanow Report from the websites of over 20 non-governmental organizations and unions, from the Canadian Council on Social Development to Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and the Ontario New Democratic Party --- and the Ontario Premier and Health Minister too.

Background

• Canada's Health Care System
• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Putting Health First: Canadian Health Care Reform, Trade Treaties and Foreign Policy: [.pdf] A report by the CCPA to the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada (Oct 2002) and Waiting for Romanow: Canadian Health Care Values Under Fire [.pdf] (Sept 2002)
  • **The 2004 edition of Putting Health First is now available in the Library.
• Canadian Institute for Health Information independent, pan-Canadian, not-for-profit organization; includes reports on health expenditures, indicators and health care system performance
• Canadian Policy Research Network. Health and Health Human Resources including:
  • "Romanow and beyond: A primer on health reform issues in Canada"
  • "Health accord, one year later: Accountability still a challenge"
  • "Implementing Primary Care Reform in Canada: Barriers and Facilitators"
• Canadian Social Research Links: The Medicare Debate in Canada
• CD Howe Institute. Managing Medicare: The prerequisite to spending or reform [.pdf]
• Conference Board of Canada. The future cost of health care in Canada, 2000 to 2020 [.pdf] (requires registration)

Books

These titles are merely examples. For a more comprehensive list, search for subjects "Medical policy -- Canada" and/or "Health care reform -- Canada"

• The best-laid plans : health care's problems and prospects / Lawrie McFarlane and Carlos Prado.
• Better medicine : reforming Canadian health care / edited by David Gratzer
• The bottom line : the truth behind private health insurance in Canada / Diana Gibson & Colleen Fuller.
• Broken promises : why Canadian medicare is in trouble and what can be done to save it / Les Vertesi.
• Canadian health care in a global context : diagnoses and prescriptions / Åke G. Blomqvist.
• Exposing privatization : women and health care reform in Canada / Pat Armstrong ... [et al.].
• First do no harm : making sense of Canadian health reform / Terrence Sullivan, Patricia M. Baranek ; with Malcolm anderson ... [et al.].
• For the good of the patients : financial incentives to improve stability in the Canadian health care system / Grant L. Reuber and Finn Poschmann.
• Heal thyself : managing health care reform / Pat Armstrong ... [et al.].
• Health care reform & the law in Canada : meeting the challenge / Timothy A. Caulfield, Barbara von Tigerstrom, editors.
• Health services restructuring in Canada : new evidence and new directions / edited by Charles M. Beach... [et al.].
• Implementing primary care reform : barriers and facilitators / edited by Ruth Wilson, S.E.D. Shortt and John Dorland.
• Just medicare : what's in, what's out, how we decide / edited by Colleen M. Flood.
• Kill or cure? : how Canadians can remake their health care system / Carolyn Bennett and Rick Archbold.
• Managing to nurse : inside Canada's health care reform / Janet M. Rankin and Marie L. Campbell.
• Prescription for excellence : how innovation is saving Canada's health care system / Michael Rachlis.
• What good is health care? : reflections on the Canadian experience / by Nuala P. Kenny.
• What is the best public-private model for Canadian health care? / Kieke G.H. Okma.

Articles

Useful keywords to try searching are "medicare", "health care", "medical system", combined with words like "policy", "reform", "financing" and "Canada".

• CBCA Complete index to Canadian newspaper, magazine & journal articles
• CPI.Q Canadian magazine & newspaper articles
• Canadian Research Index Canadian government reports at all levels, from municipal to federal (if the record has an m#, you can find it on microfiche at JL 044 37)
• Sociological Abstracts scholarly articles & reports relating to sociology, including health care delivery
• PAIS research articles on policy formation
• policy.ca "non-partisan resource for the public analysis of Canadian policy issues"; choose Health Policy from the list of issues