BR Health Organization Overhaul – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Mar 28, 2018

OTTAWA – A new report says the role played by the federal government and its arms-length organizations in the medical system needs a dramatic overhaul, including phasing out three of the eight agencies.

A review finds serious gaps and overlaps among the organizations which co-ordinate federal health-care policy across the country.

The eight organizations were created over the last three decades as self-governing, not-for-profit entities and have a combined budget of 300-million dollars and employ about 13-hundred people.

They focus on such areas as addiction, drugs, patient safety, cancer and mental health.

The report suggested three of the eight — the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction — be phased out, with their expertise and resources moved elsewhere.

“It is not because we believe that these problems or issues have been dealt with and are finished that we make this recommendation,” said Dr. Danielle Martin, one of the report’s two co-authors.

Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor says she is looking forward to reviewing the report, adding that the review is not intended as a cost-cutting measure and that Ottawa’s response could be revenue neutral or involve additional investments.

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(The Canadian Press)

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