HAD5010H

There are no formal course prerequisites. However, course assignments require:

• A basic understanding of the major elements of Canada’s health care system
• An awareness of major health care trends and issues
• A developed ability to read and use course materials and other sources to research and write graduate-level, analytic assignments
• Developed English language abilities

Please note: Students who feel they are weak in any of these areas should consult their Program Director about other curriculum options.

Health care remains a top policy priority in Canada and a key defining characteristic of Canadian identity. Under Canada’s universal, publicly‐funded health insurance plan (Medicare), all Canadians have access to medically necessary hospital and doctor care regardless of the ability to pay.Yet, like health systems across the industrialized world, Canada’s faces growing challenges. An aging and increasingly diverse population, global pandemics, emerging and more costly medical technologies and drugs, and rising public expectations about timely access to care, put additional demands on already stretched health care resources. The site of care is shifting as more care moves out of hospitals and into home and community. Individuals and communities are demanding a greater role in decision-making. There are increasing pressures to harmonize domestic health care policies with global “benchmarks.” In spite of billions of new health care dollars, public concerns about wait times for non‐emergency care continue to fuel debate about health system sustainability and the need for private pay care options.HAD5010 (and HAD5011, its counterpart for students in the Msc and PhD research stream) is the first of two courses which develop and apply a policy analysis “tool kit” to critically analyze key issues and trends in Canada’s health care system and health policy. Course sections examine the current state of health care in Canada, the public-private mix, the influence of powerful interest groups, and the determinants of health, paying particular attention to the ideas, interests, and institutions which have shaped the Canadian health care system in the past and which now shape its future.This graduate course is designed for health professionals and students of health policy who need to “make sense” of a rapidly changing and increasingly politicized health care environment in which “evidence” is often only one factor driving the pace and direction of change.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify major elements of Canada’s health care system
• Explain current health policy issues and trends in Canada and internationally
• Apply a conceptual policy analysis toolkit to “make sense” of a volatile health policy environment
• Write short, concise briefing notes which synthesize academic articles, policy papers and reports as the basis for evaluating and recommending policy options
•  Value the need for a policy analytic approach

(Competencies refer to the National Centre for Healthcare Leadership Comptency Model)

• Analytical Thinking
• Communication Skills
• Information Seeking
• Initiative
• Innovative Thinking
• Self-Confidence