Revisiting Health Regionalization in Canada

TLDR

Canada’s provinces introduced regional health authorities two decades ago to address health system problems. The article seeks to expose shortcomings of Canada’s regional health authorities and propose reforms to enhance their effectiveness. The authors review two decades of regional authority performance and argue for greater autonomy and public support to improve outcomes. The assessment shows that regional authorities have largely failed to meet goals, with limited community input, incomplete service integration, and little cost impact, prompting some provinces to abandon them, though the authors argue that greater autonomy and public support could improve outcomes.

Abstract

Twenty years ago, many of Canada's provinces began to introduce regional health authorities to address problems with their health care systems. With this action, the provinces sought to achieve advances in community decision-making, the integration of health services, and the provision of care in the home and community. The authorities were also to help restrict health care costs. An assessment of the authorities indicates, however, that over the past two decades they have been unable to meet their objectives. Community representatives continue to play little role in determining the appropriate health services for their regions. Gains have been made towards integrating health services, but the plan for a near seamless set of health services has not been realized. Funding for health services remains focused on hospital and physician care, and health care expenditures have until very recently been little affected by regional authorities. This disappointing performance has caused some provinces to abandon their regional authorities, but this article argues that the provision of greater autonomy and a better public appreciation of their role and potential may lead to more successful regional authorities. Accordingly, the objective of this article is to reveal the shortcomings of regional health authorities in Canada while at the same time arguing that changes can be made to increase the chances of more workable authorities.