the nation’s ministers of health met last week to try to pave the way for a deal, but little was achieved. federal health minister jean-yves duclos agreed in principle with a rise in federal transfers, but would not provide specific numbers.
he did, however, unveil the strings that ottawa wants attached to any such increase. it appears that the federal government would like to set up some kind of national health data agency to be put in charge of compiling statistics on health outcomes, which would allow governments and canadians to see whether the additional investments are making a difference. moreover, ottawa is asking that the training requirements for health professionals be standardized from sea to sea to sea, in order to facilitate labour mobility.
duclos did not publicly share details of his proposal. however, the latest report delivered by the government’s expert advisory group on a pan-canadian health data strategy envisages a complex, national health data system. allow me to quote the report:
“implementation of the strategy by jurisdictions would be advised by a competency-based health information stewardship council (council) and facilitated by one or more representative learning health system table(s) (lhs table(s)), accountable to the federal/provincial/territorial (fpt) conference of deputy ministers of health. the council and lhs table(s) would support data sovereignty of first nations, inuit, and métis nation and ensure that their representative bodies and/or governments are appropriately engaged. the lhs table(s) would work with the council to establish integrated roadmaps to implement the learning health system and secure investment and funding for the strategy.”