The evidence based medicine movement ("EBM") was established to combat capricious reasoning in clinical care, particularly arguments from authority. Critique of authority and appraisal of evidence remain EBM's core values, and should be revisited in this current era of EBM's maturity and...

By applying the principles proposed by Charles et al for evaluating the appropriateness of goals defined for DAs, this paper offers a critical appraisal of the POP domain of the IPDAS quality criteria checklist. The critical appraisal suggests that there are a number of limitations associated...

We study the extent and drivers of income-related inequity in utilization of dental services in Canada using the concentration-index approach that has been widely applied to study equity in physician and hospital services. Because dental care is almost wholly privately financed in Canada, our...

This study examines the impact that private financing of prescription drugs in Canada has on equity in the utilization of publicly financed physician services. The complementary nature of prescription drugs and physician service use alongside the reliance on private finance for drugs may induce...

Distance-related geographic barriers challenge the ability of health systems to allocate health care resources equitably according to need. The paper adapts the concentration-index approach, commonly used for measuring income-related equity, to assess distance-related equity in hospital...

The expansion of ordinary citizens’ roles in a variety of policy and decision-making processes has created a pressing need to draw out the lessons from accumulated work in the field of public engagement to inform the design and evaluation of new public engagement processes. In particular, the...

This background paper was prepared to inform discussion at CHEPA's Health Policy Symposium Field of Dreams: Strengthening Health Policy Scholarship in Canada on November 2, 2007. We reflect on the characteristics of Canada's health policy community in relation to the larger and more mature...

Although a majority of Canadians hold some form of private health care insurance -- most commonly obtained as an employment benefit -- private insurance finances only 12% of health care expenditures in Canada and its financing role is essentially limited to complementary coverage for services...

We develop a model to analyze alternative health care financing arrangements. Health care is demanded by individuals varying in income and severity of illness. There is a limited supply of health care resources used to treat individuals, causing some individuals to go untreated. We examine...

This paper presents the findings from simulations of the introduction of publicly funded Medical Savings Accounts in the province of Ontario, Canada. The analysis exploits a unique data set linking population-based health survey information with individual-level information on all physician...