Advocates decry health council’s demise

The federal government’s decision to stop funding the Health Council of Canada as of March 2014 has prompted an outcry from the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and other health care organizations that fear the loss of an independent voice to monitor health equity.

Health Canada told Health Council of Canada CEO John Abbott Apr. 8, that funding to the council would end in 2014 as part of federal cuts. The council will receive $6.5 million this fiscal year and $4 million to cover closing costs, Abbott says.

The council was important in 2002 when CMA first called for a permanent, independent national body to assess performance about the health care system across Canada, and it’s important now, CMA President Dr. Anna Reid stated in a news release.

“How are we to transform the health care system to improve patient care if we can’t measure what we’re doing well and what we need to improve?” asks Reid.

The council was born in 2004, following recommendations by the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada (the Romanow report), for a body to assess and report independently on the renewal of Canada’s health system, including monitoring equal access.

The council also monitors the 10-year accord that Ottawa and the provinces and territories reached on the transfer of federal dollars for health. It also publishes general progress and themed reports.

The council had no “sunset clause” when it was formed, and still has work to do, Abbott says. “We were under the premise it would continue and that it was seen as an essential element in the intergovernmental health care landscape.”

For example, the council has been identifying and promoting innovative health care practices.

But Health Canada spokesperson Steve Outhouse says the council has fulfilled its mandate, given that the 10-year federal-provincial accord ends in 2014. Outhouse criticized the CMA’s response to Health Canada’s decision.

“I believe that the CMA is showing that it is absolutely incapable of having a reasonable conversation on anything with the federal government,” Outhouse said. He described Reid’s news release as “over-the-top with rhetoric.”

Other health care advocates worry that dismantling the council will create gaps in knowledge.

“The federal government is responsible for ensuring equity in health care across the country, and they have walked away from their responsibility,” says Adrienne Silnicki of the Council of Canadians, a citizen’s advocacy group.

The federal government seeks to respect different provincial and territorial health priorities, says Outhouse. But the Canadian Health Coalition believes that statement is “an admission on behalf of the federal government that they don’t want national standards,” says Mike McBane, national coordinator for the medicare advocacy group. He says killing the Health Council of Canada marks the death of any attempt to create a national approach to health care.

The health council offers independent monitoring of the renewal of Canada’s health system, including monitoring equal access and reports on topics such as waiting times.

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The federal government may be signalling that having a federal–provincial–territorial health care strategy is now out of the question, says Dr. Michael Rachlis, a Toronto, Ont.–based health policy analyst.

“The federal government is certainly doing everything they can to say that health care has nothing to do with them,” says Rachlis. He fears that the government “seems quite content to let the system get into hard times out of neglect.”