Government Submissions - 2011
ACAHO remains supportive of the 10-year plan which recognizes many of the dynamic and complex components of the health system. Given the breadth of policy issues covered in the 2004 Accord - of which there are ten - it is fair to say that seven years in, the Agreement has not been an unqualified success nor an unmitigated failure. Rather, we are of the view that the Accord has contributed to different rates of progress across the country depending on the policy issue in question.
When it comes to issues of access and wait times, ACAHO believes that while important progress has been achieved, and is outlined in the Association's three Wait Watchers' Reports, there is more work that needs to be done to improve access and wait times, overall system performance and its measurement. In addition, as the country's academic healthcare organizations, we believe that there is an important opportunity to make a significant difference in the health and wealth of Canadians by taking what we have learned to date from the 2004 Accord and applying this knowledge to the future.
In specific terms, this Brief highlights innovative approaches that ACAHO members have generated and adopted to improve patient flow in the system. These extend beyond the five priority areas to across the continuum of care. These case studies demonstrated how with focused attention and the use of applied research and innovation we: save more lives by addressing emergencies quickly and correctly; serve more patients within the same resources and physical constraints; reduce unnecessary days from the length of hospital stay for patients; and improve patient and family satisfaction and participation in the care process.
October 2011
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Being sensitive to the economic circumstances that are facing Canada and the global community, ACAHO has identified three recommendations for the consideration of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance that seek to not only improve the health of Canadians and the performance of the health system, but leverage research and innovation in a way that contributes to sustained economic prosperity and improves our quality of life.
In each area that we have identified, we believe there is a strong leadership role for the federal government to play when it comes to nurturing and accelerating research and innovation, and how can improve the cost-effective delivery of health services in Canada.
August 2011
ACAHO believes that an integrated policy environment that supports organizations in the adoption of innovation as a business strategy, can help to increase productivity. To this effect, there are hundreds of examples from Canada's research hospitals, academic regional health authorities, and their research institutes: ranging from innovative models of care that improve health and that are sought after internationally, to spin-off companies, international collaborations, and world firsts. These organizations adopt innovation as strategy by virtue of their explicit and integrated three-part mandate, which includes:
(1) caring for patients and populations;
(2) conducting research, discovery, innovation, and commercialization; and
(3) training future health professionals and researchers.
As such, they provide a crucial nexus between research and development (R&D) inputs and the potential flow-through effects to health and life sciences. However, they do so in a policy context that can better leverage and integrate their roles as both partners in, and drivers of, innovation. In this submission, we discuss opportunities to better link R&D inputs to outputs and to leverage the national role that ACAHO member organizations play in health-related innovation and with the private sector. We hope our comments provide a productive set of lenses through which to consider innovative possibilities for Canada. We welcome the opportunity to discuss these further with you.
March 2011