I have to say that I share David's concern about the money going into the
black hole of health care.  Michael Rachlis in his new book argues that
better management and resource allocation is at the source of many of our
health care system problems in Canada.

dr
------------------------------------------------------
Rachlis, Michael. 2004. Prescription for Excellence: How Innovation is
Saving Canada's Health Care System. Toronto: Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.

[From the Publisher] The Right shrieks, Privatization will save our health
care system! The Left pleads, Medicare is underfunded! And all Canadians
wonder: Will the health care system be there when we need it?

The answer, argues Dr. Michael Rachlis, doesn't involve privatization or a
lot more money. In fact, Rachlis shows that there are solutions to almost
all of medicare's apparently intractable problems ? solutions that lie in
encouraging the spread of innovative best practices that already exist
across the country. Among them:

The Sault Ste. Marie Group Health Centre provides convenient, one-stop
shopping for 57,000 patients. The centre's preventative approach,
comprehensive services, and electronic health record have helped its
patients to stay healthy and out of hospital.
In Edmonton and Calgary, community palliative care programs dramatically
reduce the need for institutional beds and help thousands die with dignity
at home.
In Hamilton, linking psychiatrists with family doctors and mental health
counsellors has eliminated the need for two our of three specialist
referrals, while increasing by ninefold the number of mental health
patients who get help.

Prescription for Excellence lays out a plan to eliminate emergency room and
hospital overcrowding; maximize our access to doctors through teamwork; and
reform our incredibly inefficient waiting system for tests or treatment.

While the SARS outbreak in Toronto, mad cow disease in Alberta, and West
Nile virus nearly everywhere have highlighted the vulnerability of our
public health system, Prescription for Excellence makes the case that in
order to remain affordable, the health care system has to be run according
to public health principles.

A book that will provoke public debate, Prescription for Excellence is
required reading for all Canadians ? from cabinet ministers and health care
professionals to those who know that medicare must be fixed ? and fixed
now.

Michael Rachlis, M.D. is Canada's most outspoken health policy analyst and
a valued source of expert opinion on Canada's health care system. He is a
specialist in community medicine, consultant to governments and royal
commissions, and an associate professor (part-time) at the University of
Toronto's Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Dr.
Rachlis is co-author (with Carol Kushner) of two national bestsellers,
Second Opinion (Collins 1989) and Strong Medicine (HarperCollins 1994). He
lives in Toronto.

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