Professors Colleen Flood and Sujit Choudhry continue to shape discourse surrounding the future of health care in Canada, as both professors were cited in Senator Michael Kirby's report on the Canadian Health Care system which was released Oct. 25, 2002.
Senator Kirby's report (The Health of Canadians - The Federal Role, Interim Report Volume Six: Recommendations for Reform) foreshadows the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada (Romanow Commission). Both are large-scale reports commissioned by the federal government which examine and will make recommendations to improve health care in this country. Flood and Choudhry have been asked to make submissions to both studies.
Senator Kirby's report contained the following text about Flood and Choudhry's important work:
"In a paper prepared for the Romanow Commission, [13] Professors Colleen Flood and Sujit Choudry of the University of Toronto argue that there is a real need for a non-partisan national body, protected from day-to-day politics, with a longer-term view than is possible for an elected government. They propose the creation of a Medicare Commission that would be an expert, independent body, appointed jointly by provincial and federal governments, but funded by the federal government.
"The role of this Medicare Commission would include:
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determining specific performance indicators to help provinces achieve national standards set out in the Canada Health Act;
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publishing (in conjunction with the Canadian Institute for Health Information) annual reports on the performance of provincial health insurance systems; and
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providing financial assistance to those provinces that undertake to implement the processes or programs identified by the Commission.
"Funding for the commission would be separate from federal transfers for health care. It would consist of new federal money, a consolidation of all one-off payment initiatives in the health care area currently undertaken by the federal government (for example, in primary care and other areas).
"One possible method Flood and Choudry describe for composing the commission is for each province to appoint 1 commissioner and the federal government to appoint 5, for a total of 15 full-time commissioners, who would then select a chief commissioner from among themselves. All decisions would require a two-thirds majority, meaning that federal commissioners would require support from a majority of provincial commissioners for any decision.[14] The commission that they propose would have an expert staff of health service researchers and would make its reports publicly available, including specific findings on the compliance of provincial health care plans with national standards."
As for the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada (Romanow Commission), it is expected to be made public in late November. Contributing to the Romanow Comission, Flood and Choudhry have produced a report stating Canada Health Act should be changed to ensure patients receive quicker medical treatment. The professors' contribution to the Romanow Comission was detailed in the Globe and Mail (page A 1) and the Toronto Star (page A 19), as well as the Canadian Press on Thursday, August 15, 2002.
In addition to the report contributed with Prof. Choudhry, Prof. Flood has also provided numerous other pieces of her work for the Kirby Report, including a paper on a patients' bill of rights (with Tracey Epps), and a paper on the illegality of health care (with Tom Archibald).
