It's great to be here today. Thanks for the opportunity.
Naturopathic doctors' services are covered under extended health care plans, but not under any publicly funded plans. Patients taking a proactive approach to health by seeing an ND are therefore eliminating any financial burden on Canada's already overtaxed health care system.
Recent government and independent international reports have made it clear that Canada has an opportunity to improve its delivery of health care. In our view, an integrative, collaborative, team-based approach is necessary to support and revitalize Canada's health care system to enable it to meet current and future challenges. The challenge is to effectively integrate and utilize both publicly and privately funded health care professionals.
There are some examples of NDs who are working collaboratively with conventional health care professionals in multidisciplinary clinics, community health care centres, hospitals, and remote and rural communities. That's an important point. Canadians in remote and rural communities must often travel many hours to find a health care provider, if one is available at all. Those living in these areas tend to take a more traditional view of health and find they're in tune with the approach taken by naturopathic doctors.
Removing barriers to collaborative, innovative, multidisciplinary practices would assist Canadians by providing access to the health care professional of their choice who can provide the right services at the right time in one location. Barriers include a lack of funding, direct access to diagnostic services, access to substances, and professional bias. These things result in an inability to treat appropriately or refer or receive referrals, putting patients in an awkward position that results in fragmented patient care and, ultimately, increased costs.
Clearly there is a need to develop a more proactive, efficient, effective, and ultimately more sustainable health care system in Canada. We need to lower our health care footprint and minimize the impact we have on the cost of maintaining a health care system that remains socialized and accessible to all. We need to improve our health promotion strategies and support health care professionals with expertise in health promotion and disease prevention.
In the context of the terms of reference for the health committee's study of human health resources, we recommend that, first, the funeral government...I mean the federal government. That's a bit of a slip there.