We have to look at taking the existing investment in health care, realizing that it's not just a service, it's actually the way we figure out what will work for our population, and fund that activity to be a dynamic learning system that pulls technological or pharmaceutical innovations in, and we bolt health technology assessment onto that to confirm we have those delivered.
At this point in time that requires investment. Nobody can invest in a vehicle that's not built to give a return. We have to put together some kind of economy. It's going to have to be a financial return—maybe that's a U.S. model. It could be a quality metric. It could be letting hospitals roll their budgets over. It could be intellectually stimulating, with benefits to inventors. But we need to figure out how to turn our health care system from something that's service oriented to something that continuously improves the health care we deliver.
It shouldn't take money from basic science to do that, because that's pushing technology. It should be new funding in health care innovation that draws and capitalizes on the throughput and the innovations we have within Canada.