Anthony Dale is president and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association.
Over the past three decades, Ontario hospitals have become highly efficient, improving quality and access to patient care, while increasing transparency and mobilizing like never before to respond to the COVID outbreak. Now, Ontario continues to spend the least per capita in the country on hospitals while achieving some of the best results when it comes to quality and access.
When we look to the future, however, it is clear that we have reached an important turning point. Ontario’s health care system is grappling with high inflation, rapid population growth, increasingly complex health care needs, and heavy strain on its existing capacity.
If we insist on sticking to the status quo, our public health system will not be able to handle it. Addressing this crisis requires a clear understanding of the future burden of disease in Ontario and its impact on the system.
Last year, the Health Foundation, a UK health policy think tank, published a study called ‘Health in 2040: Predicted patterns of illness in England. It reported that the number of people living with a serious illness in England is expected to rise by 39 per cent – ​​more than a third – by 2040. This is more than 3.5 times the rate expected for working population.
The hospital sector is working to identify this same estimated burden of disease in Ontario. Once this is done and our health system partners better understand our future capacity needs, we must be ready to find creative and innovative ways to address them.
Effective healthcare systems are not only driven by today’s efficiency and productivity. They also embrace change with an eye to the future and by investing in new ways to improve their efficiency. It is a balancing act based on stable funding and capacity planning. But it is also important to have special funding for innovation. This is how we continue to drive system change.
Innovation can help create a future with less disease, better treatment and universal access to care. Hospitals are already working towards this goal. It is within reach.
Biochemical and technological innovations have led to significant clinical improvements. It has also delivered cost savings and sometimes improved the way we deliver healthcare. Laparoscopic surgery, mRNA vaccines and advanced medical imaging have transformed healthcare as we know it today. Recently, artificial intelligence, gene therapy and personalized medicine have shown incredible potential.
We must also change the way we plan, finance and coordinate health care. We should not be afraid to embrace value-based care and funding that promotes optimal outcomes and collaboration. We have significant opportunities to generate new revenue streams for our hospitals by commercializing new approaches to care.
Ontario’s population is expected to grow by three million people over the next 10 years, and we already know that Ontarians will live longer with more chronic health conditions. We need to do more to implement evidence-based public health and social programs aimed at disease prevention. We already know that we can better manage chronic diseases and reduce the costs associated with preventable illnesses – all of which lead to improved quality of life for Ontarians.
It is essential to address the main reasons people get sick and need health care in the first place. We need a stronger primary care system where everyone has access to team care. Decision-making needs to be decentralized and health professionals need some freedom to take risks, experiment and integrate local health and social services.
Ontario’s hospitals are already making a difference – they are Canada’s engine room for health research and innovation. Based on this tremendous capacity, we must continue to adapt and create new tools, resources and methods to help our dedicated healthcare professionals meet the needs of patients and clients.
Hospitals and other healthcare institutions also need much more financial and operational security than they have today, so that they can continue to provide basic services to their communities. Health care in Canada is already a hybrid of public services and some private services, and a more thoughtful integration of private services that complements but does not replace mainstream public health services should be part of the solution.
Accountability and transparency are cornerstone values ​​of Ontario hospitals. Over the past few decades, hospitals have consistently supported the implementation of new accountability measures to improve the quality of care and patient safety. The private sector must also be held to the same standards of transparency and accountability if it is to play a larger role in our health care system.
Health care is vital. But that doesn’t mean we should protect it from change. As we face the challenge and responsibility of providing health care for a growing and changing province, it is time to be ambitious, embrace innovation and unlock our incredible potential.
The future of universal health care in Ontario depends on it.
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