Canadians And Physicians Agree Benchmarks For Wait Times Are Part Of Health Care System Solution
Ottawa, ON -According to Ipsos-Reid surveys among the public and a CMA survey of phy-sicians, a majority of both the general public and physicians recognize a need for health sys-tem performance measures like benchmarks for wait times (71% and 68% respectively), and for a "safety valve" that would allow patients to seek the care they need elsewhere if wait times are exceeded (84% and 85% respectively) -- preferably covered under their provincial health insurance plan (83% and 71% respectively) as opposed to out-of-pocket or through the purchase of private insurance (33% and 50% respectively).
Although just over half of the general public and physician populations approve of contract-ing out some health services to privately-owned and operated facilities, this approval is lim-ited to non-direct patient care services including laundry or dietary requirements (61% and 71% respectively) and diagnostic services (50% and 49% respectively). Only around a third of the public and of physicians agree that medical or surgical services, out-patient (39% and 43% respectively) or in-patient (32% and 27% respectively), should be contracted to private facilities.
When asked about various options for private practice, the general public and physicians agree that physicians choosing to practice in both public and private systems should be regu-lated by a professional code of conduct (83% and 87% respectively). Their opinions begin to diverge however on the extent to which a physician's time in private practice or professional fees should be regulated, with the public -- perhaps registering concern for the continued well-being of the public system -- being more likely to favour regulation. For example, when asked whether physicians practising in both systems should be required to spend a specific percentage of their time in the public system, three in four Canadians (76%) agree compared to six in ten (60%) of physicians. Physicians' agreement with the notion of regulation de-creases as the measures become more restrictive. For example, only one in ten (12%) physi-cians agree that they should be permitted to practice in the private system only outside of normal hours of care, compared to a third (33%) of the public.
The general public data in this study are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Canadian Medical Association poll conducted between June 29th and July 4th, 2006. The survey included 1,103 members of the Ip-sos-Reid Online Panel. For a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within +/-2.95%, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire Canadian population over the age of 18 years been polled. The margin of error is larger within regions, and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample~{!/~}s regional, age and gender composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data. The physician data in this study are the findings of a Canadian Medical Association (CMA) survey of 2,477 physicians, medical students and/or residents conducted between April 7 and June 6, 2006. The collection of physician respondent data was coordinated and supervised by the CMA. Questions about the Physicians Survey should be directed to the CMA (www.cma.ca).
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