Increased funding for CIHI, Infoway in the works
February 8, 2023
OTTAWA – The federal government announced funding of $505 million over 5 years to CIHI, Canada Health Infoway and federal data partners to work with provinces and territories on developing new health data indicators, to support the creation of a Centre of Excellence on health worker data, to advance digital health tools and an interoperability roadmap, and to underpin efforts to use data to improve safety and quality of care.
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OTTAWA – Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos (pictured) says the federal government and the provinces and territories have made “significant progress” on a multibillion-dollar healthcare funding deal and he’s optimistic an agreement can be unveiled at a first ministers meeting within weeks.
TORONTO – Filomena Tassi (pictured), Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), announced over $14 million towards the scale-up and growth of eight GTA-based companies: Able Innovations Inc., BeWhere Inc., BlueDot Inc., Cognota Inc., Earth Boring Co., Mero Technologies Inc., Pentavere Research Group Inc. and Schlesinger Group Ltd.
OTTAWA – The government of Canada announced nearly $7 million in funding to enable YMCA Canada to scale up and expand the “Y Mind” and “Mind Medicine” mental health programs for youths across Canada. The programs are intended for young people aged 13-30 years of age who are experiencing mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression and aim to support the development of effective coping skills and improvements to participants’ overall well-being.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government is preparing an ambitious healthcare infrastructure plan that will add more beds, operating rooms and emergency departments across the Halifax Regional Municipality, but it comes without a final price tag or even a cost estimate.
QUÉBEC CITY – The Quebec government presented the content of a bill to modernize access to patient health data. The plan is to be more transparent and better share information between health professionals. Bill 3, “An Act respecting health and social services information and amending various legislative provisions,” will let patients more easily consult their health file, know who had access to their information and decide if they want to share that information with other professionals. It is a slightly modified version of Bill 19, which was presented last year and died on the order paper before it could be adopted.
VICTORIA – A review of British Columbia’s COVID-19 response released last week says despite being unprepared for the pandemic, the province showed “resilience, balance and nimbleness” during the emergency. That’s despite nearly 75 percent of the people surveyed as part of the independent review reporting they didn’t trust information coming from the government.
EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (pictured) dismissed the board of the province’s health authority last week and replaced its members with a single administrator whose focus will be on developing a long-term plan for healthcare reform, improving ambulance response times and decreasing wait times for emergency rooms and surgeries.
OTTAWA – Throughout the week of November 14, radiologists from across the country gathered in Ottawa to meet with Members of Parliament, Senators and government officials to reiterate their call for major federal investments to improve access to medical imaging in Canada.
TORONTO – Digital Health Canada has unveiled the first phase of a new online resource of available provincial and territorial digital health strategies from across Canada. This free resource gives digital health professionals a single point of reference for access to regional strategic plans and priorities.