Healthcare policy = Politiques de santé
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Change is inevitable as we turn an important page in healthcare policy. Dr. Zelmer was welcomed as the second editor-in-chief of Healthcare Policy more than a decade ago succeeding Dr. ⋯ At that time, we invited her to continue building on the foundation laid by her predecessor - establishing Healthcare Policy as Canada's preeminent scholarly journal of health services and policy research. No doubt readers will agree that Dr. Zelmer and her team of editors have accomplished that and much more during her tenure as the editor-in-chief, and for that, Longwoods Publishing is grateful.
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Disparities in health and healthcare plague provinces' residents. This means that different subgroups of the population have differences in health and healthcare. Examples include socio-economic status, location of residence and disability status. Disparities generate searching questions: does where you live, or who you are, affect your health or the quality or accessibility of healthcare you receive?
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Since the release of the World Health Report in 2000, health system performance ranking studies have garnered significant health policy attention. However, this literature has produced variable results. The objective of this study was to synthesize the research and analyze the ranked performance of Canada's health system on the international stage. ⋯ As countries introduce health system reforms aimed at improving the health of populations, international comparisons are useful to inform cross-country learning in health and social policy. While ranking systems do have shortcomings, they can serve to shine a spotlight on Canada's health system strengths and weaknesses to better inform the health policy agenda.
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First-in-class drugs use a unique mechanism of action. This study assessed the therapeutic innovativeness and safety of these drugs approved by Health Canada from 1997-2012. ⋯ Overall, the benefit-to-harm ratio of first-in-class drugs, as measured by post-market safety warnings/withdrawals, is better than those that were not-first-in-class.
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Canada needs a national strategy to fulfill its obligation to ensure universal access to necessary healthcare, including prescription drugs. A 2004 attempt at a national strategy for pharmaceutical policy failed because it lacked clear vision, logical planning and commitment from federal and provincial governments. The result of uncoordinated pharmaceutical policies in Canada has been more than a decade of poor system performance. ⋯ We strongly suggest policy actions be taken on four core objectives that are necessary to support the overarching health goal. If implemented, the proposed strategy would offer clear benefits to all Canadians who use medicines, federal and provincial governments and to the economy as a whole. We therefore argue that political leadership is now needed to articulate and implement such a plan on behalf of Canadians.