health care logistics

For $30/month, Ontario doctors offer rapid access to nurse practitioners

Violin22/02/2023 40 Views

Some doctors in Ontario are offering their patients the option of extra health care, at a price: seven-day a week rapid access to appointments with a nurse practitioner, for a fee of around $30 a month.

It’s perfectly legal under both the federal and provincial medicare rules. But since it involves charging for health care, it adds fuel to a growing debate over two-tier health care in Canada.

Kindercare Pediatrics in Toronto launched its nurse-practitioner program in response to overwhelming demand from parents during the surge in respiratory illnesses among kids last fall, said the practice owner, Dr. And Flanders.

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6 min read

Health Care

Is California breaking its promise to cut health care costs?

Violin22/02/2023 58 Views

A medical examination room in Fresno on June 8, 2022.

Brian Iv works in a factory in Orange County, earning around $26 per hour. He suffers chronic pain from a lifetime of manual labor jobs and previous workplace injuries, but often treats the pain with home remedies or traditional Cambodian practices. Going to the doctor is too expensive, he said.

Iv recently got a raise and was able to purchase health insurance through his company, but for a long time he had a Covered California Silver Plan, a mid-tier plan under the state’s version of the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace. A visit to a primary care doctor cost nearly

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9 min read

Health Care

Face masks are no longer required in hospitals, Arizona’s largest health care system says

Violin18/02/2023 75 Views

Visitors to Banner Health hospitals and medical facilities, including to emergency departments, don’t have to wear face masks anymore.

The Phoenix-based company made the announcement on Valentine’s Day, days after the state of New York announced that face masks would no longer be required in health care settings

Officials with Banner Health, which is Arizona’s largest health care delivery system, said they dropped their face mask requirement, “in alignment with current public health guidelines for health care facilities.”

Face mask requirements were lifted at Phoenix-based Valleywise Health on Thursday. As of Feb. 21, face

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3 min read

Health Care

As surgical wait lists grow, Canada’s private clinics cash in

Violin15/02/2023 50 Views

It’s a contentious reality in a country with a universal medicare system: Canadians can pay to sidestep the queue for surgeries with long waiting lists, such as hip and knee replacements.

Private clinics across Canada are advertising to prospective patients that within weeks they can get surgeries that typically take six months or more under provincial health plans. The price for a single hip or knee replacement run ranges from $20,000 to $28,000, depending on the clinic.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic driving up surgical wait times, there’s some evidence suggesting a growing number of Canadians are pulling

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9 min read

Health Care

Health-care advocates urge BC to hire physician assistants to assist doctors

Violin14/02/2023 43 Views

A man originally from BC who is now a health-care worker in Halifax said BC needs to adopt physician assistants to assist doctors.

Gabriel Demone, who is a physician assistant with the Canadian Armed Forces based out of Halifax, said his daily role in assisting doctors is a big help in delivering timely medical services.

“If I were to encounter you as a patient, we would sit down and talk about what you brought into the clinic,” he said.

“We’re a force multiplier for the doctors.”

Click to play video: 'Langley family decries long wait in hospital ER for toddler'

2:05
Langley family decries long wait in hospital ER for toddler

His role is

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2 min read

Health Care

The Bay Health Foundation works to make health care services more accessible

Violin10/02/2023 34 Views

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – A local foundation is proving its commitment to the people of Bay County by continuing to make health care services more accessible to those who otherwise couldn’t afford them.

The Bay Health Foundation was formed more than a decade ago after Bay Medical leased the hospital to Ascension Sacred Heart. Since then, the board has been investing the money back into the community with more than $5 million in donations spread among a list of organizations.

On Thursday, the list grew at the 11th annual grant recipient luncheon. The foundation presented a $500,000 check to

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3 min read

Health Care

Collecting racial data in Manitoba hospitals will help ‘disrupt and destroy’ racism in health care: doctors

Violin09/02/2023 88 Views

Manitoba is launching a new system-wide expansion of race-based data collection in hospitals, building on efforts to track how different racial groups were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

Beginning this spring, the province will ask patients to self-declare their racial or ethnic background as part of the hospital admission process, making Manitoba the first Canadian jurisdiction to do so, according to the University of Manitoba.

“Black, Indigenous and racialized people actually receive significantly unequal care by race, and that is a reflection of how multi-level racism operates in our health-care system,” said Dr. Marcia Anderson, executive director of the Ongomiizwin Indigenous

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5 min read

Health Care

Dix ‘delighted’ premieres will meet PM on healthcare funding

Violin30/01/2023 34 Views

British Columbia’s health minister says he’s “delighted” Canada’s premiers are set to meet with the prime minister early next month to discuss a potential deal to increase federal health funding.

Adrian Dix says the premiers had long been asking to meet Justin Trudeau as they call on Ottawa to boost its contributions through the Canada Health Transfer.

The premiers have demanded the federal government increase its share of health-care spending to 35 per cent from 22 per cent, with no strings attached, while Ottawa has insisted the funds must come with accountability measures.

4 min read