There is an old saying in political science, “if you change the language, you change the debate.” This has happened in Canada. Everyone is told, and most believe, that the number one driver of healthcare costs is drugs. This is just not true. The number one driver of healthcare costs is our health. Spending on drugs is a good thing. We are very lucky that medical therapies multiplied in number just as we were closing 36% of our hospital beds across Canada in the 1990’s.

The almost canine fixation on marginal drug costs rather than on the outcomes they produce or the hospitalizations they reduce is frightening. The only ones who suffer when government-funded hospital formularies or community drug plans do not list new, innovative drugs, are the patients – in fact, doubly so when their next door neighbour may be able to access the same drug through his/her private insurance or on a trip to the United States. This is truly two-tier pharmacare.

Access to innovative treatments for AF, and almost all other diseases and disorders, is being denied Canadian patients. It is not just embarrassing to see where Canada ranks in the world in terms of public access to drugs but downright dangerous for our patients.

As the 9.8 million baby-boomers retire and enter their high-cost healthcare phase in life so will the majority of our doctors and nurses. With the anticipated shortages of health human resources within the next generation, adoption of medical innovation and the drugs it produces will be even more urgent and important.

Believing that treatment decisions should remain between patient and physician, The Cameron Institute hosted several consensus focus groups in the fall of 2010 with key stakeholders and groups. All that participated were concerned that AF was being under-diagnosed, undertreated and not adequately prevented, leading to unnecessary strokes.

Universal access to innovative treatments for patients affected with AF was a paramount concern.

Finally, these focus groups agreed that family physicians must play a key role in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of atrial fibrillation. To do that to the best of their ability, family physicians need access to the very best of therapies for all of their patients now.

Download and read the full TCI publication:  The mad, mad world of pharmacare in Canada: access to newer treatments for atrial fibrillation

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Access to newer treatments for atrial fibrilation

[TCI publication ]

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