The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has released its inaugural report on priority health care topics, Taking the pulse: A snapshot of Canadian health care, 2023. This report is the first of what will be an annual series — the result of a formal commitment made in early 2023 by the Government of Canada and the provincial and territorial governments to improve health care in Canada in shared priority areas.
As part of that commitment, governments agreed to work with CIHI to collect, share and learn from health information, with CIHI reporting to Canadians on the priority areas each year. Quebec is not participating in the joint reporting exercise.
Taking the pulse: A snapshot of Canadian health care, 2023 offers Canadians an initial overview of where we are today in the 4 priority areas:
- Expanding family health services and improving access to primary health care
- Increasing the supply of health workers and decreasing backlogs in care to support resilient health systems
- Improving access to mental health and substance use services
- Modernizing health care’s information systems and digital tools for the secure sharing of electronic health information
The indicator results (none of which include data from Quebec) are based on publicly available data stemming from a partnership between Canada Health Infoway, integrated youth services networks, Statistics Canada and CIHI.
Selected indicator highlights include the following:
- 88% of Canadians age 12 and older reported having a regular health care provider.
- There were about 743,000 fewer surgeries performed in Canada during the first 2.5 years of the pandemic, a drop of about 13% compared with before the pandemic.
- Half of Canadians who required community mental health counselling received a first appointment in less than a month, while 1 in 10 waited about 4 months (data is not available for Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario and Nunavut).
- Fewer than 40% of Canadians have accessed their personal health information online.
We know that there are gaps in Canada’s health care systems, but there are also improvements happening every day. This report provides a look at challenges that exist around the country. Over the coming years, transparent public reporting using comparable data from modernized health systems will be an important aspect of the improvement effort. It’s an important step in working with all levels of government as they work to improve health services for Canadians.— Kathleen Morris, Vice President, Research and Analysis, CIHI
CIHI will continue to work closely with partners to collect more data and improve measurement for future reporting, including developing new health care indicators and refining existing ones.
About CIHI
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing essential health information to all Canadians.
CIHI works closely with federal, provincial and territorial partners and stakeholders throughout Canada to gather, package and disseminate information to inform policy, management, care and research, leading to better and more equitable health outcomes for all Canadians.
Health information has become one of society’s most valuable public goods. For more than 25 years, CIHI has set the pace on data privacy, security, accessibility and innovation to improve Canada’s health systems.
CIHI: Better data. Better decisions. Healthier Canadians.