Episode 8: Federal Budget Response: Unpacking Ottawa’s Role in Creating More Resilient Healthcare Systems
It’s been over two years since Canadian healthcare systems were forced to confront a massive crisis that led to some of the strictest lockdowns and public health measures in the world. More than two years into COVID-19, it’s clear that the pandemic not only imposed direct damage on the Canadian economy and provincial healthcare systems, but also exacerbated a wide range of pre-existing system challenges – from surgical backlogs to delayed diagnoses to lagging access to innovative medicines.
Based on these challenges, it’s no surprise that last year the Commonwealth Fund ranked Canada 10th out of the 11 countries it compares on timeliness of care, health equity and patient outcomes. And as such, it’s no surprise that the Resilient Healthcare Coalition is intensively focused on two core goal. First, optimizing the use of healthcare data to better-inform health care decisions. Second, expanding and accelerating patient access to innovative health technologies – from therapeutics and vaccines to medical devices and diagnostics.
On April 7, the Government of Canada released its 2022 budget – the first since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his governing Liberals were re-elected last Fall. The goal of this episode is to unpack the federal budget to better understand not only how it can help support greater health system resilience, but also what opportunities it fails to seize.
In this episode, Ross Wallace is joined by:
Jason Field, President and CEO of Life Sciences Ontario, RHC Co-Chair
Connie Côté, Chief Executive Officer of Health Charities Coalition of Canada
Jonathan Mitchell, Vice-President, Research and Policy at HealthCareCAN
Find the episode below or listen on SoundCloud.