 |
Note to NDP: Come see us some time
Healthcare politics interferes with progress
Vancouver Sun
March 28, 2007
By Don Copeman
Private sector involvement in healthcare delivery is a political football that just about anyone can kick around. A recent attack by NDP health critic Adrian Dix on the Copeman Healthcare Centre was no exception.
In an NDP news release and media story about the Copeman Healthcare Centre, Dix made erroneous comments alleging extra-billing practices. Dix's actions typify how an honest debate on healthcare innovation can easily be sacrificed to political expediency.
Judging by his news release and media quotes, Dix is completely misinformed about the nature of our services. Rather than taking action against Dix at this time, a letter has been sent inviting him to tour the Centre to become educated about our model of delivering primary healthcare in British Columbia. To date we have received no response.
Dix may be confused about our billing practices having chosen not to contact us directly. The BC government still has a way to go to understand our particular innovation in primary healthcare delivery, but at least it is engaging the Centre through both direct and independent assessments.
Only the Alberta government has actually toured the Centre to learn how we integrate publicly-funded services with non-insured services to provide improved health outcomes for British Columbians.
In short, the Copeman Healthcare Centre is no more a private healthcare facility than virtually any other medical clinic in Vancouver. However, unlike a typical medical clinic, where the lion's share of clinical care is provided by a physician or group of physicians, the Copeman Healthcare Centre emphasizes a collaborative approach to health care.
Physician services are combined with a team of healthcare professionals, such as physiotherapists, dieticians, exercise physiologists, lifestyle coaches and psychologists all under one roof and under a single, integrated medical record.
The Centre only charges for the non-insured portion and does not provide any barriers to access to our physicians. These are the indisputable facts that Dix has either ignored or failed to discover through his own due diligence.
The Centre is a pioneer of preventive healthcare but not the first to do so. Other BC hospitals dating back to the NDP era have combined physicians with a variety of other healthcare professionals to enhance patient care, but not to the same degree as the Copeman Healthcare Centre.
To their credit, it was the past NDP government that originally gave birth to independent healthcare delivery in BC. The sudden change in their policy position that allows for groundless attacks on healthcare providers raises suspicions that their remarks may be politically motivated.
Primary or preventive care has been identified by the medical community as one of the key pillars of healthy lifestyles and healthcare sustainability. Our Centre's collaborative healthcare model reduces our patients' risk of disease, lowers the probability that they'll find themselves in the hospital and consequently reduces healthcare costs shouldered by BC taxpayers.
The future of a sustainable, publicly funded healthcare system depends of preventing illness, not just fixing it. It also requires innovative ways to fill the chronic physician gap across Canada. The collaborative, multi-professional model developed by Copeman Healthcare is the only viable solution to this problem, given the shrinking roster of family physicians.
Besides British Columbia, other provincial governments such as Quebec recognize the value of independent healthcare delivery. Most recently, the Liberal government in New Brunswick is consulting the public on its openness to medical services delivered through independent providers.
The alternative is to follow the logic of the NDP and preserve the "status quo." In that case, British Columbians with high medical risks or chronic diseases will continue to be referred out by family doctors to other non-insured healthcare professionals all across town - and without any formal health-plan coordination, communication or unification of their medical record.
There is no reason to expect that health outcomes will improve if we continue to provide the same disjointed care. The NDP's status quo model will continue to treat the sick at rising costs but not take the necessary steps to prevent people from becoming sick in the first place.
The Copeman Healthcare Centre is not pressing for a private health care system, but we do advocate private sector innovation, energy and investment to improve healthcare outcomes for all Canadians. Our satisfied clients are proof that our model works.
Dix and the NDP would be well served by an understanding of our clinical model and our commitment to public healthcare before making reckless public comments that distort the debate around healthcare innovation and sustainability.
The invitation remains open to Dix and his colleagues to visit the Centre for a personal briefing and to learn how we keep our clients healthy while strictly adhering to the principles of the Canada Health Act. RSVP.
Don Copeman is founder & chief executive officer of Copeman Healthcare Centre in Vancouver.
Reprinted from the Vancouver Sun, March 28, 2007.
»
Return to Health Frontiers
|
|
|
|
 |
 Health
Frontiers: Issue 6
|
