It would be a great report for you to take a look at in the work you are doing.
My next question is for Ms. Collins.
I want to thank you for the observation you made earlier that there is an opportunity for the provinces and territories, along with the federal Minister of Health, to continue the dialogue around setting standards, indicators, and measurements that will make sure we are getting the results that we want to see and that Canadians deserve out of our health care system. I want to thank you for that observation. We've simply provided some stability and predictability in terms of the funding, but that doesn't preclude the conversation that still needs to happen over the next few years, so I thank you for saying it.
In Saskatchewan we moved forward from a system in the early 1990s that had 400 different boards providing oversight of health care in 32 districts. We went to 12 health regions. When we moved to districts, they implemented a funding formula that was needs-based but that also took into consideration demographics, which changed the funding based on the number of children, women, seniors, and aboriginal people.
They also built in what they called a one-way valve. There was a certain amount for acute care and a certain amount for community care or those community-type programs that were meant to focus on health promotion and disease prevention, and while money could move from acute care to the community-based services, it could not move back. However, the lion's share of the funding always went to acute care, so we felt tension between having to fund acute illness care while trying to look at health promotion and disease prevention. I know my colleague picked up on my exact quote that “prevention needs to drive the system”.
You also said that a shift has to happen and that prevention needs to be fundamental to that shift. My colleague referenced the very good work you are doing in B.C.; I'm wondering if you would take a little bit of the time that's left to tell us about that work.