Evidence of meeting #53 for Health in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was physicians.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
It would also produce better clinical outcomes, I would think.
I don't want to put words in your mouth, but could you confirm that you feel that getting the vitamin D levels up improves clinical outcomes perhaps by reducing the toxicity of their cancer treatments?
Chief Medical Officer, Clinical Services, InspireHealth
I was only hesitating because we don't have the results of the study yet. Clinically and anecdotally we absolutely see a difference in folks, not only from the vitamin D but also from all the other ways we support them.
Conservative
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Thank you.
Allan Markin, your group, Pure North S'Energy, has an amazing story. You've been working with people for eight to ten years, and I think I heard that 40,000 people have come through your program, many of them low-income people in remote areas. By addressing these nutritional deficiencies—I'll let you explain how you do this—the basis of your outreach, you're actually improving the health outcomes significantly and reducing costs to the Alberta health system.
Would you please comment on the improved outcomes you're seeing in your patients and what you attribute those to?
Founder, Pure North S'Energy Foundation
I did comment on that a lot. Perhaps you'd like to talk a little bit just about the outreach.
We started this with flying our doctors out to every corner of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. We would fly our professionals out there to take the blood and then get back to people on a verbal basis. Eventually, the program evolved to the point where we were giving people close to 10,000 to 20,000 IUs per day because we saw immediately quite an improvement. We try to target people to get up to 150 to 250 nanomoles per litre safely. One of our biggest studies has just come out recently through Dr. Richard Lewanczuk—I just have to mention this—whose title, I think, is chief of chronic disease prevention and senior medical director of primary care, community and rural health for Alberta Health Services, working for the Alberta government. We have a diabetes paper there. We're turning around people, about 48% of them, from pre-diabetic to non-diabetic. We're working with them. Their hearts are getting into a lot better shape because of the vitamin D and other vitamins and minerals we're working with.
I'm not sure if that answered your question.
Mark, would you like to add anything?
Director, Quality Assurance, Pure North S'Energy Foundation
To reiterate that, essentially we provide a personalized combination of high-quality nutritional supplements, vitamin D, which is individualized according to body mass index. Those who are overweight or obese need higher doses of vitamin D. We're finding that physical and mental health improve significantly, and diabetes is being prevented and for people with pre-diabetes, the state before diabetes, that is being reverted to normal just using nutritional supplements alone.
We have a highly cost-effective, simple way to support people's health. The reality is that the vast majority of Canadians have multiple nutritional insufficiencies that drive chronic diseases.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Ben Lobb
Thank you very much.
I'm sorry, but we're over time again.
Ms. Fry, go ahead.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
Thanks to all of you for some fairly interesting and creative work that you are doing.
I want to ask a question of Pure North.
I notice that you have some very impressive statistical data here in terms of your outcomes, including 25 fewer hospital visits, and for people who stay in the program for four years, 45% fewer hospital visits. This is all good. I think that if you can improve access to hospitals or need for hospitals and acute care, and if you can manage people in the community, this is extremely good.
Do you have anyone else working with you in terms of preventive care other than nutritionists or people who deal with nutritional supplements, etc.? What are the other areas in which you have an integrated approach to care?
Director, Quality Assurance, Pure North S'Energy Foundation
Our core team is built around medical doctors and naturopathic doctors who are educated and informed about nutrition and who work alongside nurses, nurse practitioners, and dentists as well. The dentists actually have become an integral part of our team, because we are starting to realize that the health of your mouth has a profound influence on the health of your body, and vice versa. It's our multidisciplinary team that's the key to the success in this.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
And pharmacists.
Do you get funded on a capitation basis by the Province of Alberta? How are you funded to do this work?
Founder, Pure North S'Energy Foundation
One hundred per cent by me, by Allan Markin. I've spent close to $200 million of my own personal money on this, mostly in the last few years. The data that's come out of this has allowed us to get a grant through the Government of Alberta, a minor grant last year for seniors. We got a lot of data out of that for seniors and how to work with seniors, and the quality of life has really improved there.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
You don't get any billing at all, and you can't bill the public health care system. You work on your not-for-profit foundation and you use that money to pay the whole team. Is it a salary basis or is it a sessional basis? How do you manage your team?
Director, Quality Assurance, Pure North S'Energy Foundation
Yes, certainly. Our core nursing team is salary based, and our doctors are there as consultants, but essentially to date, Mr. Markin has personally financed Pure North for the last eight years.
We're now looking to the Government of Alberta to work with us more closely so that we can start to embed the core of our preventive program into Alberta Health Services itself. We are moving towards that.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
—is that your model might be something that one can emulate, so I really want to know how it actually works in terms of integration, reimbursement, etc. I wanted to find that out, so thanks very much.
I want to ask Dr. Cline some questions.
Dr. Cline, do you have other physicians working in the practice with you? Do you have an integrated system as well? What does your integrated multidisciplinary system look like? Are you paid out of the public administrator in your province?
Medical Director, Cline Medical Centre
Thank you, Dr. Fry.
I have a small clinic in Nanaimo. I'm the medical doctor. We have two integrated dentists, and I have a nurse practitioner who joined me from Chicago two years ago.
As far as payment goes, we do a blend of payments. We bill the medical services plan for whatever we can and document that in the charts. For uninsured services, which is most of what we do, we bill the patients. Sometimes insurance companies will also pay.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
Given that in the 2004 health accord, and prior to that actually, earlier on in 2002, when money was put into primary care models of community care and integrated care, do you not feel that this is an experiment that the provincial government should invest in?
Medical Director, Cline Medical Centre
What is usually meant in integrative care is integrating pharmacists, nurses, physicians, social workers, and so on, but what it comes down to is integrating a standard model of care, whereas functional medicine is actually giving, I think, a better operating system for critically thinking the complex cases, such as the one I presented, so that you can actually use history taking and a physical exam with fewer tests to solve these complex problems. Then start with food and nutritional supplements, exercise, and so on, to help move the biochemistry towards a healthier function, but keeping in mind that we have specialists who are there if surgery is required, endocrinology, or gynecology, and so on. We have access to that system.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
Do you have any outcomes with regard to your hospitalization rates or fewer hospital bed stays? Do you have any kind of information that would show you are getting better results? This is not a trick question. I just really want to know that you're getting better results than traditional clinical, integrated, multidisciplinary models.
Medical Director, Cline Medical Centre
I must say that I rarely have any of my patients go to hospital, except for surgery.
The Institute for Functional Medicine was invited last year by the Cleveland Clinic to set up an institute for functional medicine there as part of the institutes in the Cleveland Clinic, and so there is ongoing research there.
The white paper that I alluded to in my presentation has 245 citations looking at the research in functional medicine that has been published.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
Thank you very much.
I think my time is up. I'm getting the flag waved at me.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Ben Lobb
Mr. Lizon, you're next on the list, and again unfortunately, we're tight on time, but we'll give you time for a question.
Conservative
Wladyslaw Lizon Conservative Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
Thank you very much.
I have a question for Dr. Cline.
I'm not a professional in the medical field; therefore, my question will be quite basic, because I'm trying to understand what exactly you do, Dr. Cline. You're not part of the provincial health care system. Is that correct?