Let's hold a contest to see which areas in Canada have the best health care. In it, we'd compete not only for the best health-care outcomes, but also for lowest smoking rates, highest physically active rates, and shortest wait times. Who do you think would win?
No need to hold the contest—the results are already in!
British Columbia has been ranked as Canada's healthiest province, according to Healthy Provinces, Healthy Canadians: A Provincial Benchmarking Report launched by the Conference Board of Canada earlier his year. Alberta finished in second place and Saskatchewan came third in the provincial comparison. Ontario ranked fourth.
The report assesses the provinces and territories based on 70 comparable health indicators grouped in three broad areas: health status indicators (cancer incidence, smoking rate, physical activity), health-care outcome indicators (mortality rates), and health-care utilization and performance indicators such as patient satisfaction and wait times.
"It is the first to compare and evaluate the performance of provincial health-care systems in Canada," states the report.
No Clear #1
Most provinces did not perform well in all three areas. Although B.C. had the best overall performance in the country and took top spots in both health status and health-care outcomes, it fell short of the mark in health-care utilization and performance with consistently lowest patient satisfaction scores.
New Brunswick topped the list in health-care utilization and performance with greatest patient satisfaction, however finished sixth in overall health performance.
Alberta had the second foremost performance with its consistently positive position across all three health performance areas, but did not land any number one spots.
The report finds that quality of health care is not guaranteed by the amount of money invested, noting, "Spending larger sums of money does not necessarily translate into high performance. It is how the money is spent, rather than how much, that appears to make the difference."
Doctor's Prescription: Move out West
An east-west connection with smoking and lung cancer can be seen by looking at the figures. According to Statistics Canada, B.C. has the lowest smoking rate in Canada in both males and females across all age groups. B.C. also has the second lowest smoking rate in North America after Utah.
Quebec, on the other hand, has the country's highest smoking rates, especially among 15-to-19 and 45-to-64 age groups. One out of every four teens in Quebec smoke. Again out east, Prince Edward Island recorded the highest percentage of smokers aged 20-to-34, while Newfoundland has the highest rate in the 35-to-44 column.
The report shows that eastern provinces reported higher incidence and mortality rates for lung cancer compared with western provinces. Quebec recorded the highest male and female lung cancer rates, followed by New Brunswick with the second highest rate for male lung cancer. Quebec and Nova Scotia reported the highest death rates from lung cancer for males and females respectively, the report states.
More to Love in Atlantic Canada
According to the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute (CFLRI) in 2001, British Columbians are among the most physically active group in the country, followed by Albertans. And of the residents in B.C., Statistics Canada indicates that the most active are in Greater Victoria, at 66.1 per cent.
Sixty three percent of the New Brunswick population is physically inactive, which was the highest percentage in the country five years ago. Teenagers from N.B. and Quebec are less physically active than those in the rest provinces. B.C., Alberta and Ontario have the lowest percentage of physically inactive teens.
Physical inactivity increases the risk of many conditions such as heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, depression, and premature death.
The report corroborated these figures, showing that the populations in physically active provinces such as B.C., Alberta and Ontario are the least overweight and obese. Physically inactive provinces such as New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Newfoundland reported higher percentages of overweight and obesity.
Time Is Not Money?
In comparing wait times across the country, the 2004 National Physician Survey Database (NPSD) indicated, "Provinces with the greatest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita such as Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia had among the longest wait times for urgent referrals to a specialist. Although having lower GDPs, Prince Edward Island and Quebec had the shortest wait times."
Although Ontario and B.C. rank well in terms of percentage of specialists within the population, each have longer than average wait times.
Perhaps what Canadians need is for us to actually hold our contest!
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