54
HEALTHCARE
NEWS
Canada's surgical backlog could make US think twice
about single-payer healthcare
By Alan Condon
A
mericans dissatisfied with U.S. health-
care are looking abroad to understand
how other systems could be replicated
at home, but they need only look north of the
border to see the challenges Canada is facing
addressing its increasing backlog.
For decades, public satisfaction with the
healthcare system has been significantly
lower in the U.S. than other high-income
countries. Expensive out-of-pocket costs and
health equity are two of the major concerns
among U.S. citizens, compounded by the re-
cord profits that many commercial insurers
reported during the COVID-19 pandemic.
North of the border, 66 percent of Canadians
are satisfied with the country's single-payer
model — a universal healthcare system fund-
ed through taxes — but crave increased access
to care, according to a December survey from
market research company Ipsos Healthcare.
ough hospitals and health systems across
the globe are playing catch-up with surgical
backlogs stemming from delayed care during
the pandemic, Canada's healthcare system —
where each of the 13 provinces and terri-
tories are responsible for their own system
— may not be as well-equipped as the U.S.
to address those backlogs, which continue
to grow.
In the Canadian province of Manitoba, for
example, almost 168,000 people are waiting
to have procedures, an increase of about
6,300 since February, according to CBC
News. Doctors Manitoba, a nonprofit repre-
senting almost 4,000 members, reported that
54,820 of those procedures are surgical cases.
"Pre-pandemic volumes alone won't help to
clear the massive backlog," said Kristjan omp-
son, PhD, president of Doctors Manitoba.
"New capacity must be added to help those
Manitobans who are still le waiting in pain and
uncertainty."
One strategy Manitoba is hoping will reduce
the backlog is sending some patients to the
U.S. to have surgery. Sanford Medical Center
has identified up to 300 patients in Manitoba
who are healthy enough to travel to Fargo,
N.D., to have spine surgery. e hospital be-
gan a pilot program with five spine patients
in March and is expected to make a decision
on how to proceed shortly.
e Canadian Spine Society has criticized
the program, arguing that it would redirect
"badly needed money that could be applied
to improving access within the province."
Meanwhile, in the U.S., hospitals and sys-
tems are implementing their own strategies
to work though their backlogs.
Becker's Hospital Review learned that India-
napolis-based IU Health has 5,000 to 6,000
surgical cases in its backlog, Seattle-based
UW Medicine is working to accommodate
more than 18,000 procedures, and Salt Lake
City-based University of Utah Hospital is
addressing 500 backlogged cases.
One big knock against a single-payer, gov-
ernment-run healthcare system in the U.S. is
that it would severely limit access and quality
care that Americans are accustomed to, and
at a time when they most need it. n
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