Ottawa wants health data reform. How will this help solve Canada’s health crisis?
Global News
Major gaps in the way health data is used in Canada means practitioners are often 'flying blind' when caring for patients, which is why experts are applauding Ottawa's health deal.
Major gaps in the way health information is used in Canada means practitioners are often “flying blind” when caring for patients – a stark reality that can lead to poor health outcomes, avoidable deaths and inefficient use of already-strained resources, experts say.
That’s why many health information experts are applauding measures in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s multi-billion dollar health funding offer to the premiers this week that would compel provinces and territories to make significant changes to the way health data is collected, shared and reported.
Improving the way medical information is gathered and shared within provinces and nationally is necessary to address systemic gaps in care and to understand the reforms that are needed in Canada’s ailing health system, says Laura Rosella, an epidemiologist and Canada research chair in population health analytics at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in Toronto.
“The stark reality is without this data, we have no sense of where we need to start to really invest in improving the system,” she said, pointing to the many challenges within health-care systems in Canada that require improvements, including long waits for care and health worker shortages.
“We need the data to be able to tell us exactly where to focus and how to make those changes… without that, we really are flying blind and we’re not able to actually make the impact that we all want to make.”
Calls to reform the way health information is gathered and shared are not new.
The urgency of the need for change has been highlighted by many studies and experts over the years, most recently by an expert advisory group tasked by the federal government to study the realities of Canada’s health data landscape and come up with advice for improvements.
After two years of work, which included reviewing more than 60 years of reports on improving health data use, the advisory group determined that health data is gathered, organized and managed poorly in Canada.
