The capacity in a healthcare system is a key to service delivery.

If there is adequate capacity for services with sustainable funding to support and renew capacity, then patients will be serviced in a timely manner. 

In Canada's healthcare system in our post-COVID world there is a serious capacity issue.

If a patient in Canada has spinal stenosis and has to wait 2 years for service, there is a major problem with capacity.

We know we are not alone in our concerns with Ontario’s capacity issues.

And that there are not enough resources of all kinds: funding, infrastructure, specialists, generalists. 

So why does Canada have a capacity issue?

One problem is that Canada is a single payer system. The government is the sole funder of the healthcare system.

This was great and workable when it was established but as time went on patients got older and more complex and our understanding of health and illness and the treatments at our disposal has made best care much more expensive.

Our single payer system makes funding our healthcare system unsustainable. 

Is there a solution?

There are examples all over the world of various models of multi-payer systems.

While the US healthcare system has its own problems, funding is not one of them because they have multiple payers.

The government is a funder. Healthcare insurance companies are payors. Companies are payors. Patients can be payors.

Having multiple payers makes the funding of the system sustainable and allows for the creation and maintenance of critical capacity.

Most functioning healthcare systems have multiple payers. Germany. France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Australia. And so on.

There was a fantastic article in the Globe and Mail on August 28 2023 by Dr Hance Clarke and Imran Abdool that I recommend you read.  

One way some Canadians are adapting by buying US healthcare insurance despite living in Canada.

If they have a healthcare problem, they can call their healthcare insurance 1-800 number and get access to timely, quality care.

Not everyone can pay $3000 per year for this insurance. But some can and more will.

Changes are in the air.

Hopefully our decision makers can make things better for patients and healthcare providers before they get worse.

To learn more about RCM services:

647-350-5500

info@rcmhealth.ca

Raymond Rupert  

CEO  

RCM Health Consultancy Inc.

www.rcmhealth.ca