H E A L T H C A R E   P O L I C Y

Canadians often tell themselves that they enjoy “the best healthcare system in the world.” Unfortunately, the evidence doesn’t support these claims. Despite very high per-capita spending levels, Canada’s healthcare system underperforms in comparison to a number of European countries, including the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden. In many European countries, wait times for healthcare services are much shorter than in Canada. AIMS research focuses on identifying and measuring the performance gaps between Canada and some of its peer nations and on identifying policy strategies and global best practices that can help reduce wait times and improve patient care in Canada.

AIMS research in the healthcare sector also focuses on the development of policy ideas that can help strengthen the role of consumers themselves within the healthcare system. Our work examines global practices and policy ideas that provide patients with more access to information about their own health status and treatment options, enabling them to be active, leading participants in their own team of health care providers.

POLICY PAPERS & OP-ED COMMENTARIES

 

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Survey after survey show that Canadians are extremely concerned about the state of our health care system. Yet each year millions and millions of dollars more are spent on health care, with little results. So what is going on? Where does all the money go? Does the number of dollars ...

A Third Option for the Health Care Debate

While the health care debate continues to heat up south of the border, Canadians still have very strong feelings about whether our publicly funded health care system is in need of a fix. Unfortunately, our political leaders, the news media, and many of the organizations currently active in the health ...

Use as Needed

Used properly, there is little doubt prescription drugs save the health care system millions of dollars a year. Just a generation ago an illness that could be completely debilitating or required months of hospitalization can now be treated with a drug that helps the patient live a full and productive ...

Single-Payer Health Care for Maryland

There are any number of adages that could be applied to the oft compared Canadian and US health care systems, but two come quickly to mind after reading this analysis - "Be careful what you wish for" and "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" ...

The potential of private sector health care in Canada

"Canada’s health care system is in trouble precisely because it lacks flexibility," concludes the latest background paper from the Canadian Health Care Consensus Group (CHCCG). Author Brian Ferguson, an economics professor at the University of Guelph and AIMS Fellow in Health Care Economics suggests that if we are to successfully address problems ...
/ / Healthcare, Policy Papers
MEDIA MENTIONS

 

Revamping Health Information in Nova Scotia

AIMS Senior Fellow in Healthcare Policy David Zitner discusses his latest column on health information in Nova Scotia on the Todd Veinotte show. In the column, Zitner argues that "Nova ...

AIMS President and CEO Marco Navarro-Genie on the Essential Services Legislation in Nova Scotia

CTV interviews AIMS president and CEO Marco Navarro-Genie about whether Nova Scotia's "Essential Services" legislation will discourage nurses from working in the province. CTV Atlantic ...

From Province House to Home: Doing My Share For Healthcare

Government workers represent the needs of the majority of people. It is our job to manage your money wisely and to spend it as you have mandated us to do ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Atlantic Institute for Market Studies Announces Ben Eisen as Director of Research and Programmes

Halifax, NS: The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) is delighted to announce Ben Eisen’s appointment as the new AIMS Director of Research and Programmes, effective 20 January 2014. Prior ...