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The Health Action Plan
September 11, 2000
First Ministers today reached an historic and unanimous
consensus on a comprehensive and forward-looking Health Action Plan.
The Health Action Plan is about sustaining and modernizing the
Canada’s publicly-funded health care system to meet the immediate and
long-term health needs of Canadians in the 21st century.
It also provides for a reporting framework that will allow
Canadians to know that the quality of care available to them is improving, as
well as provide governments with tools to better manage our healthcare system.
Delivering on our longstanding commitment, the Government of
Canada will generously support the Plan by investing over $21.2 billion over 5
years for health through the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) -- the transfer
through which the federal government provides funding for health care, post-secondary
education and other social services.
This substantial investment builds on the more than $15
billion that we have invested since 1999 in support of the renewal of the health
system through the (CHST), research and other health promotion programs.
The Health Action Plan provides $2.3 billion in federal funding to address jointly-agreed priorities in three
key areas:
- Upgrading hospital and diagnostic equipment;
- Providing better access to doctors; nurses and frontline
health care services; and,
- Making more and better use of information and communications
technologies.
The Health Action Plan is proof of our long-held view that we
can achieve long term, sustainable renewal without sacrificing the principles of
the Canada Health Act.
Canadians can continue to count on the universally accessible,
publicly administered health care system -- Medicare -- that is a cornerstone of
Canada’s unmatched quality of life.
The Health Action Plan - the first federal/provincial/territorial
agreement of the 21st century - proves, one again, that Canada works.
It is an example of what Canadians want to see: their governments working
together to ensure timely, high quality health care.
The Plan promotes better coordination among governments while
recognizing the need for flexibility for individual jurisdictions to respond to
the particular needs of their citizens.
Highlights of the Health Action Plan:
$21.2 billion in new transfers to the provinces for health over
five years; including
- A $1 billion fund available to provinces and territories to
upgrade hospital and diagnostic equipment;
- $800 million to fund projects to better provide access to
doctors; nurses and frontline health care services.
- $500 million to fund better use of information technology in
the health care system;
- A joint Action Plan for governments to work collaboratively in
areas like primary care, doctor and nurse supply, pharmaceuticals and others;
- A commitment by governments to account to Canadians on how
their tax dollars are being spent in the health care system; and,
- And to report regularly to Canadians on how the system is
performing.
The Health Action Plan: Reporting To Canadians
First Ministers have agreed that a reporting framework should
be developed and put in place to report to Canadians and ensure the success of
the plan.
Health Ministers will work with experts to report to Canadians
by September, 2002 on a set of jointly-agreed comparable indicators addressing
health status, health outcomes and the quality of health care services.
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