How Would You Improve Canadian Healthcare?

Let's brainstorm some real-world improvements together

Just hours after posting my recent “What if Better Healthcare Just Isn’t Possible?” article I had a bit of an awakening.

As you may remember, the article suggested that actually eliminating many of the big-ticket problems facing the healthcare system might not be achievable. Perhaps our attention would be better directed to finding effective incremental improvements. But the article ended without any practical road map for the future. Who would come up with those ideas for change and how would they find their way to implementation?

The awakening came through some reader comments which introduced me to a depth of experience and knowledge I hadn’t expected. It seems that subscribers to The Audit are an accomplished crowd who, as a group, can probably marshal significant wisdom.

So why not begin building a road map for the future right here? I created a simple form where you - or anyone - can identify something specific you think isn’t working with Canada’s healthcare system and what might be done to fix it. I’m particularly interested in hearing from healthcare industry insiders, but we’ve all had direct experience of one sort or another, so anyone’s observations are welcome.

The goal is to create a crowd-sourced, curated collection of intelligent ideas from a broad community. If you - and your friends/family - can provide the ideas, I’ll set my data tools to work whipping the content into a coherent and compelling format. Either way, I’ll post updates and results to The Audit.

Feel free to share the link to this page far and wide - especially on any healthcare-oriented online forums (of a Canadian bent).

For simplicity, it’s best you include only one idea per form session. But you’re more than welcome to fill out the form as often as you like. (Update: unfortunately, it seems there might not be any way to take a survey more than once using a single account. Nuts.)

If you’re looking for inspiration, here are some specific high-level topics I’ve identified:

• Cost savings and efficiency

• Eliminating redundancy

• Simplifying processes

• Leveraging (or avoiding?) digital tools

• Coordinating care teams

• Policy and regulatory reform

• Healthcare workforce development

• Preventive care

• Quality improvement initiatives

• Public-private partnerships

• Health literacy and education

• Sustainable financing models

Here’s the link to the form. Fire away!