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 Shannon LaBelle, the Liaison Librarian for the Faculty of Health Sciences, 778.782.4962 or sla139@sfu.ca .

Contents:

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

Government sites

• Canada Health Act
• Institue 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

• Statement by Roy Romanow Regarding the 2003 First Ministers' Accord on Health Care Renewal
  • Links to analysis of the health care accord by 8 advocacy groups
• 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. The preface and Table of Contents is available online from the CCPA.
• 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]

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

[back to top]