Donalee Moulton

Provincial squeeze on generic prices continues

The clampdown on generic drug payments is becoming a nationwide vise as Nova Scotia has joined the bevy of provinces who’ll reduce prices paid for knockoffs. Under Nova Scotia’s new “Fair Drug Pricing Act,” the province’s pharmacare program will pay just 45% of the cost of a brand drug

Paramedic program reducing emergency room congestion

Proponents call it “bringing acute care to patients” and for many senior citizens who reside in 15 nursing homes throughout Halifax, Nova Scotia, it’s eliminated lengthy waits for treatment at hospital emergency departments. In fact, so successful has a pilot project to provide on-site

Surgical black box may sew up malpractice cases

When an airplane crashes, investigators scramble to locate the black box so they can find out what was happening in the aircraft before the incident. An advance on that technology is now being tested at a Canadian hospital as a means of documenting what happens in an operating room. The question is

Refugee health clinics grapple with demand

When Canada opened its doors to more than 25 000 Syrian refugees, their welcome to a new home included access to health care. Living up to that promise has put serious demands on many refugee health clinics. In Halifax, the Transitional Health Clinic for Refugees saw roughly 180 patients in its

Older doctors under increasing regulatory scrutiny.

Canada’s regulatory colleges are focusing more and more attention on older physicians, says the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA). “It’s simply the colleges’ interest in ensuring fitness to practise,” says Dr. Todd Watkins, the association’s managing director of physician

Fewer Canadian MDs heading to the US

The physician brain drain that began in the 1990s — when it was estimated that the equivalent of two graduating classes left each year to practise in the United States — is definitively over. “We are now graduating more physicians than ever before … and fewer are leaving for the US,” says

New guidelines for evaluating health tech

Researchers looking to consistently translate health data into an economic analysis that decision-makers can actually use will want to refer to the updated guidelines from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH). “The guidelines are best-practice standards,” says Karen

Task force tackles rural health care inequity

Making health care more equitable and accessible for the 18% of Canada’s population living in rural communities, but served by only 8% of the country’s physicians, is the driving force behind the report [ Rural Road Map for Action: Directions ][1]. The six-page strategy, released by a joint task

Physicians with disabilities often undervalued

Dr. Jessica Dunkley is currently completing her residency in dermatology at the University of British Columbia. Like most doctors-in-training in this country, she completed her undergraduate medical degree and hoped to pursue a specialty. Unlike most doctors in training, Dunkley’s path to her

Specialty medical education being transformed

Anesthesiologists, and head and neck surgeons will celebrate Canada Day by making history. On July 1, these specialties will become the first in the country to adopt a [competence by design][1] (CBD) model for medical education. “This is the biggest change we’ve made to specialty medical