January 24, 2002
Hon. Roy Romanow
Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada
P.O. Box 160, Station Main
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
S7K 3K4
Dear Mr. Romanow:
On behalf of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) and the Canadian Chiropractic Association (CCA), we are pleased to enclose our submission to the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada.
As primary contact health care practitioners, Canada’s chiropractors have seen the impact on patients of changes in the health care system in terms of their access to quality health care services. Our submission makes recommendations which, if implemented, will improve patient care, alleviate system pressures, and demonstrate cost effectiveness.
Canada’s health care system has adequately met the needs of Canadians since the inception of the Canada Health Act. However, the sustainability of the system based on traditional Canadian values of fairness, equity, and commonality has been compromised. This has resulted in a system which has moved from being patient centred to one which is now provider and institutionally centred. The national debate on health care sees Canadians demanding the protection of their health care system while recognizing that change, both organizational and fiscal, is required to ensure its sustainability.
Major technological breakthroughs and new research based knowledge, with its promise of improved patient outcomes, combine with an increasingly sophisticated health care consumer to exert ever-increasing pressure on the health care system. Inequity and inadequacy in funding services from province to province, the lack of primary health care integrative models of patient care, the traditional and restrictive results of silo funding, and the lack of recognition by health care planners of the proven benefits of non-medical regulated health care need redressing.
The chiropractic profession supports the establishment of a framework for improving the delivery of health care services which is integrative, patient centred and reflective of outcomes. Concepts of equity and fairness demand that the delivery of “medically necessary” services be extended to non-medical regulated health professions based on quality outcome and patient satisfaction measures supported by both clinical and fiscal research.
We are confident that our recommendations will provide you with further insight into searching for comprehensive measures to protect and maintain Canada’s health care system. We request participation in the public consultation and dialogue taking place in Toronto on April 2nd and look forward to working with you in seeking solutions for a sustainable and cost-effective health care system.
Yours sincerely,
Jean A. Moss, D.C., M.B.A.
President
Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
H. James Duncan, BFA, CHRP, CAE
Executive Director
The Canadian Chiropractic Association