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Executive Summary

On November 7, 2024, CSA Group hosted its inaugural Policy Pathways conference, Advancing Canadian Health Care. The conference brought together nearly 300 attendees from government, industry, community, and academia to discuss innovative solutions and implementation pathways to build a better healthcare system in Canada.

CSA Group’s conference comes at a critical moment in Canadian health care: Canada’s healthcare system is not meeting patient needs and there is urgent demand for actionable, innovative solutions. Many Canadians cannot access primary care providers or mental health services, wait times are climbing, and there is a shortage of healthcare workers amid recruitment, retention, and attrition challenges.

Across five sessions, three cross-cutting themes emerged that illustrate shared opportunities and challenges for Canadian health care.

• New models of care are essential to meeting healthcare needs.
• Solutions need to reduce provider burnout, not make it worse.
• Red tape makes it harder for patient-centred care to become a reality.

An incredible line-up of speakers identified potential policy pathways to improve Canada’s healthcare system including:

• Expedited pathways for inter-jurisdictional and international healthcare professionals (such as pan-Canadian licensure) to increase the supply of primary care practitioners
• Amendments to the CHA that strengthen its principles through clearer definitions, outcomes, and jurisdictional responsibilities
• Intragovernmental collaboration on digital health and innovative technologies to assess opportunities and cost savings across governments and the healthcare system
• Government investments in prevention and social supports as part of making evidence-based and cost-effective policy and program decisions
• Outcomes-based funding and team-based care models to mitigate workforce capacity constraints, hospital closures, and widening health inequities and to avoid creeping privatization