Healthcare in Canada Ranks Lowest!!

In an article published November 7, 2010 in Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper, Canada was ranked the lowest out of 7 countries when it comes to the Quality and Timeliness of healthcare.  The newspaper article, entitled Canadian health care on the international scorecard, ironically cited Canada as having the 2nd highest rating for Long, Healthy, Productive Lives.   In other words, despite the supposedly poor quality of care and the delays in its delivery, we are living healthier and longer lives than most countries in the world.

The study, conducted by The Commonwealth Fund, also shows Canada as having the lowest number of doctors / 1,000 population (2008) at only 2.3%, as compared with the U.S. at 2.4%.  The highest percentage goes to Australia with 4.6%, where they are also ranked Number 1 on the Long, Health, Productive Lives meter.

Canada is ranked lowest of 7 countries when it comes to "quality of care"

So the question that should come to mind is: How do we reconcile living longer and productively when our care is deficient?  I think I know how. 

I know that we're a pretty health-conscious country.  I also know that we eat a lot less junk food than our southern neighbors.  But that's not all.  As a country, Canada ranks pretty high on public health consciousness.  I see it in my medical records business everyday as patients are retrieving their own personal medical histories from their records currently stored with us.  I also see it all around me with friends, family, acquaintances who all seem to be quite well informed about their health conditions, diet and exercise regimens, medications, etc.

After attending a keynote address by Google CEO, Eric Schmidt at the HIMMS conference in 2008, as he introduced Google Health and the search engine's usage for diagnosing health conditions.  He stated that that 94% of user reported health information and diagnoses on the internet was accurate.  Wow.  Talk about self-service health care!  Combine that statistic with the one put forth by the CIA World Factbook that states that Canada is, per capita, the 4th largest country of internet users (after Greenland, Netherlands and Antigua / Barbuda.  The US ranks 13th).  Now it starts to make sense.

Canadians are a health conscious population.  We are less inclined to put all of our faith in the health care system and we are more likely to be proactive in our health care management.  Part of being proactive is ensuring that our medical records are always available - especially to the patient, who is the only conduit to other care providers.  Moving towards secure electronic medical records (EMR) is certainly a step in the right direction.  Patient access and involvement should never be underestimated.