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With the exception of caregivers who provide “companionship care” for the aged and infirm, domestic workers like nannies and house cleaners are covered by federal minimum wage laws

Citing three consecutive years of funding freezes coupled with inflation, debt payments and rising staffing costs, the Peterborough Regional Health Centre announced Wednesday it would be cutting 53 positions, mostly registered nurses.

"When you are getting 0% increases and you have to absorb inflation and other cost increases plus pay off our debt, it's getting tougher every year," hospital board chairman Gary Lounsbury said during a press conference Wednesday morning.

The hospital will also close four palliative-care beds.

In just 6 categories of waste—overtreatment, failures of care coordination, failures in execution of care processes, administrative complexity, pricing failures, and fraud and abuse—the sum of the lowest available estimates exceeds 20% of total health care expenditures.

Obtaining savings directly—by simply lowering payments or paying for fewer services—seems the most obvious remedy.

Here is a better idea: cut waste.

Abstract It is essential that internationally educated healthcare professionals (IEHPs) residing in Canada re-enter and remain in their profession. To make the most of this important supply of healthcare professionals, it is vital to understand who IEHPs are, the challenges they face and how to facilitate their entry and integration into the workforce. In this article, after a summary of what is known of IEHPs who migrate to Canada, common problems of entry and integration into the workforce are discussed. Profession-specific challenges are considered, including how roles in certain professions vary globally and the importance of cultural and communication competencies. Resources to assist physicians and nurses are described and compared with those available for other professions. Finally, future possibilities and strategies for workforce integration are considered. Although the focus in this paper is on one province, the issues and strategies discussed are relevant to other provincial and international jurisdictions that are struggling with shortages and trying to capitalize on potential sources of workforce supply

The Hamilton Spectator Wed May 13 2015

I'm a U.S. family physician who has decided to relocate to Canada. The hassles of working in the dysfunctional health care "system" in the U.S. have simply become too intense. I'm not alone. According to a physician recruiter in Windsor, during the past decade more than 100 U.S. doctors have relocated to her city alone. More generally, the Canadian Institute for Health Information reports that Canada has been gaining more physicians from international migration than it's been losing.

I'm moving to Canada because I'm tired of doing daily battle with the same adversary that my patients face - the private health insurance industry, with its frequent errors in processing claims (the American Medical Association reports that one of every 14 claims submitted to commercial insurers is paid incorrectly); outright denials of payment (one to five per cent); and costly paperwork that consumes about 16 per cent of physicians' working time, according to a recent journal study. I've also witnessed the painful and continual shifting of medical costs onto my patients' shoulders through rising co-payments, deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses. According to a survey by the Commonwealth Fund, 66 million - 36 per cent of Americans - reported delaying or forgoing needed medical care in 2014 due to cost.

Prepared by Leah F. Vosko, GWD Director

The Modules: A Rationale The GWD is currently composed of six integrated and interactive modules on the following topics: precarious employment health care unions migration unpaid work technology

Volume 385, No. 9962, p2, 3 January 2015

2014 ended with a historic change in relations between Cuba and the USA. “After all, these 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked”, stated US President Barack Obama on Dec 17. Although issues around politics, freedom, and civil rights still stand and should not be overlooked, Obama pointed out, “Where we can advance shared interests, we will—on issues like health, migration, counterterrorism, drug trafficking and disaster response”. Obama cited health. With a life expectancy of 79 years, 67 doctors per 10 000 people (whereas the regional average is 21 per 10 000), and with hundreds of Cuban doctors now fighting Ebola in west Africa, health indeed does come to mind first when one thinks of Cuba.

National Post Mon Mar 23 2015

When government monopolies fail to provide the level of service citizens expect, or when excessive regulations on an industry limits competition and drives up prices, people often seek a market-oriented solution that will provide the services they want at a price they are willing to pay. Uber offers a great example of how people are using technology to bypass the government's taxi oligopoly in many major cities. Although there is not yet an app that would allow Canadians to get a colonoscopy from a private practitioner, people in this country have, for decades, travelled abroad to bypass the long wait times that are endemic to the Canadian health-care system.

How many people are seeking medical treatment abroad? A new Fraser Institute study surveyed Canadian physicians to find out how many of their patients went out of country in search of timely care. It estimates that 52,513 people received medical care abroad in 2014, although the authors note that this estimate does not take into account those who left the country without first consulting their doctor here at home. And the number of Canadian medical tourists is growing, having risen from 41,838 in 2013. The reason may not be hard to find. A study released last year by the U.S.-based Commonwealth Fund ranked the health-care systems of 11 industrialized countries and placed Canada second to last overall. Interestingly, two countries that have similar systems to ours, the U.K. and Australia, ranked first and fourth respectively.

CMAJ October 18, 2016 vol. 188 no. 15 First published September 19, 2016, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.109-5330

News Intervenors decry Charter challenge of medicare Steve Mertl + Author Affiliations Vancouver, BC Sanctioning doctors to practise in both public and private health care, and bill above the medicare fee schedule would lead to an inequitable, profit-driven system, warns a promedicare coalition opposing a Charter challenge of British Columbia laws.

Cambie Surgeries Corp., which operates private clinics, and co-plaintiffs, launched the case against the BC government and its Medicare Protection Act. “(T)he Coalition Intervenors are here to advocate for all of those British Columbians who rely on the public system, and whose right to equitable access to health care without regard to financial means or ability to pay — the very object of the legislation being attacked — would be undermined if the plaintiffs were to succeed,” lawyer Alison Latimer said in her written opening submitted Sept. 14 to the BC Supreme Court.