The Health and Economic Consequences of Achieving a High-quality Primary Healthcare System in Canada – “Applying What Works in Canada: Closing the Gap”
Alan Katz, Richard H. Glazier, Janani Vijayaraghavan
February 2009 (released January 2010)
Full report (2 MB)
Currently, there is a large gap between the ideal primary healthcare system – one that relies on evidence-based practice – and the reality of Canada’s system. This report analyzes the effects, both health-related and economic, of moving the reality toward the ideal.
Main Messages
- The accessibility and quality of Canada’s primary healthcare performance ranks poorly compared to international best practices and improvements are needed to the: low participation in quality improvement; slow uptake of information technology; poor access to care in relation to other countries; wide variation in avoidable hospitalization; and suboptimal prescribing trends.
- A better understanding of the fundamentals of primary healthcare in Canada is required. With limited information available about primary healthcare performance across Canada, the policy, organizational and practice-level elements required to reform and enhance access to and quality of primary healthcare need to be further elucidated.
- System and organizational changes to primary healthcare are needed. Canada will continue to lag well behind other countries in PHC performance unless the PHC system changes; inter-provincial and inter-regional efforts are required.
- Data are essential for primary care improvement. The monitoring of access and quality indicators over time is needed in order to assess the impact of primary healthcare reform initiatives, such as information technology and team based models, and to inform evidence-based policy.
- Evaluative capacity is needed. Both data capacity and trained investigators are required for this effort.
- National coordination is required. A strong pan-Canadian organization that would coordinate and enhance data collection efforts, evaluation and reporting capacity, and linkages with practitioners and policy-makers is required.
- A strong and high-performing primary healthcare system has the potential to deliver better health with improved equity, greater satisfaction and lower costs.
Related reports
» What are the Critical Attributes and Benefits of a High-quality Primary Healthcare System?
» A Structure for Co-ordinating Canadian Primary Healthcare Research
