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August 18, 2009CMA Blueprint for Health Care Transformation Takes the Wrong Road: CDM
Canadian Doctors for Medicare (CDM) Vice Chair Dr. Robert Woollard expressed deep concern about the "Blueprint for Health Care Transformation" proposed by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) today. Calling the Blueprint "more of a sketch" Dr. Woollard advised caution. "The devil is in the details and we have seen none of the details today," he said, noting that the final version of the Blueprint would be developed by the Board, without any clear plan for review and input by the members of the CMA.
Those components of the Blueprint that call for action on Pharmacare, home care and electronic health records are in keeping with existing CMA policy and are uncontroversial. However, competition and a market oriented "Activity Based Funding" model are key parts of the Blueprint.
"The proposed approach is based on European models, but many of those models aren't applicable here," Dr. Woollard noted. "Europe has 50% more doctors per person and none of the kinds of remote rural locations we need to serve, but this blueprint takes none of that into account," he added.
The CMA's own polling shows that the majority of doctors and Canadian citizens do not support these approaches. Furthermore, those European countries that have experimented with market-based reforms have not found them to be in the best interests of patients.
"Competition has been a key part of reforms in the UK, but the process has cost millions and the British Medical Association says there's no evidence it helps. Why are we rushing into these questionable models?" he asked.
For more detail on Dr. Woollard's comments today please see the attached.
Canadian Doctors for Medicare (CDM) is a national, membership-based organization which believes in Canada's publicly funded health care system. The organization's mission is to provide a voice for Canadian doctors who want to strengthen and improve Canada's universal publicly-funded health care system so that it benefits all Canadians.
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