In early 2010, twenty health care leaders from across Canada came together to discuss primary health care. The Health Council of Canada sponsored the day-long discussion on health care reform through the McMaster Health Forum. Participants acknowledged that Canada’s ability to provide good-quality primary health care is not where it should (and needs to) be.
For Canada to do better, the main recommendations from the discussion are:
- To re-affirm primary health care as the foundation of Canada’s health system
- To ensure that appropriate management structures are in place between health ministries and primary health care providers
- To link funding agreements with physicians and others to public-policy goals for primary health care
- To attend to change management, so that physicians and primary health care teams are supported in their efforts to strengthen primary health care across Canada
To read the full report, see “At the Tipping Point: Health Leaders Share Ideas to Speed Primary Health Care Reform,” May 2010, atwww.healthcouncilcanada.ca.