Financing long-term care in Canada

Financial policies relating to long-term care in Canada are changing rapidly in response to demands for health care reform. This chapter focuses on the financial structure of institutional care, primarily nursing homes, in the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Community-based long-term care is discussed briefly.     

Home-care utilization within the year of death: trends, predictors and changes in access equity during a period of health policy reform in British Columbia, Canada

Healthcare policy reforms enacted through the 1990s explicitly endorsed expanded community care and enhanced equitable access to care. We examine end-of-life home-care service utilization during this time period. We are interested in trends in and predictors of utilization influencing receipt of service or total service use. This is a population-based, retrospective study of home-care utilization by adults 50 years of age and older in British Columbia, Canada, who died in the last 6 months of each year from 1991 to 2000 ( n  = 98 327). Data were drawn from the British Columbia Linked Health Data resource; we examined both receipt and extent of care, using logistic and standard regression models. Independent variables included year of death, age, gender, area of residence and income quintile. Year of death was not significantly associated with receipt of home care in general. However, the odds of receiving home support services declined significantly over time, while annual home support hours increased. In contrast, receipt of home nursing increased, while annual home nursing visits did not change. Social factors frequently emerged as significant predictors of both receipt and extent of care. However, we found only limited evidence for interactions between these factors and year of death acting as determinants of receipt or extent of service. Results suggest that end-of-life home care services did not expand, but instead were reallocated and intensified over the 1990s. As well, there was little evidence to suggest enhanced equity in access to care.     

Prostate cancer support groups, health literacy and consumerism: are community-based volunteers re-defining older men's health?

In this article we describe the connections between prostate cancer support groups (PCSGs) and men's health literacy and consumer orientation to health care services. The study findings are drawn from participant observations conducted at 16 PCSGs in British Columbia, Canada and 54 individual interviews that focused on men's experiences of attending group meetings. Men's communication and interactions at PCSGs provide important insights for how men talk about and conceptualize health and illness. For example, biomedical language often predominated at group meetings, and men used numbers and measures to engage with risk discourses in linking prostate cancer markers to various treatment options and morbidity and mortality rates. Many groups afforded opportunities for men to interact with health care providers as a means to better understand the language and logic of prostate cancer management. The health literacy skills fostered at PCSGs along with specific group-informed strategies could be mobilized in the men's subsequent clinical consultations. Consumer discourses and strategies to contest power relations with health care professionals underpinned many men's search for prostate cancer information and their commitment to assisting other men. Key were patients' rights, and perhaps responsibility, to compare diverse health products and services in making decisions across the entire trajectory of their prostate cancer. Overall, the study findings reveal PCSGs as having the capacity to contest as well as align with medical expertise and services facilitating men's transition from patient to informed health care consumers. The processes through which this occurs may direct the design of older men's health promotion programs.     

Peer Reviewed: Disparities in Chronic Disease Among Canada’s Low-Income Populations

Introduction

Many studies have found inequities in health among income groups in Canada. We report the variations in the major chronic disease risks among low-income populations, by province of residence, as a proxy measure of social environment.

Methods

We used estimates from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey to study residents who were aged 45 years or older and from the lowest income quintile nationally. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between province of residence and risk of chronic diseases.

Results

British Columbia is the healthiest province overall but not in terms of its low-income residents, whereas Quebec''s low-income residents are at the least risk for major chronic diseases. The significant differences in risk of hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease in favor of British Columbia over Quebec for the entire population disappear when considering only the low-income subset.

Conclusion

Quebec''s antipoverty strategy, formalized as law in 2002, has led to social and health care policies that appear to give its low-income residents advantages in chronic disease prevention. Our findings demonstrate that chronic disease prevalence is associated with investment in social supports to vulnerable populations.     

Everyday experiences of implicit rationing: comparing the voices of nurses in California and British Columbia

Managed Care in the U.S. is one of the more controversial strategies to implicitly ration health care. It has also been creeping into Canada where care is similarly being managed albeit in a different socio‐political environment. Based on nine group interviews with 35 RNs in California and 10 group interviews with 39 RNs in British Columbia, we find that the price to be paid for the promise of cheaper, more efficient health care through managerial strategies is borne largely by nurses and other health care providers. The data reveal that nurses in British Columbia and California share similar experiences with how the amount of care is rationed at the bedside – through care pathways, early discharge policies and reduced staffing – while the rationing of access to care differs because of the socio‐political contexts of their respective health care systems. In both cases, the implicit rationing of care through managerial strategies fails to deliver on its promises.     

Inequities in access to medical care in five countries: findings from the 2001 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey

OBJECTIVE: To examine across five countries inequities in access to health care and quality of care experiences associated with income, and to determine whether these inequities persist after controlling for the effect of insurance coverage, minority and immigration status, health and other important co-factors. DESIGN: Multivariate analysis of a cross-sectional 2001 random survey of 1400 adults in five countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Access difficulties and waiting times, cost-related access problems, and ratings of physicians and quality of care. RESULTS: The study finds wide and significant disparities in access and care experience between US adults with above and below-average incomes that persist after controlling for insurance coverage, race/ethnicity, immigration status, and other important factors. In contrast, differences in UK by income were rare. There were also few significant access differences by income in Australia; yet, compared to UK, Australians were more likely to report out of pocket costs. New Zealand and Canada results fell in the mid-range of the five nations, with income gaps most pronounced on services less well covered by national systems. In the four countries with universal coverage, adults with above-average income were more likely to have private supplemental insurance. Having private insurance in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand protects adults from cost-related access problems. In contrast, in UK having supplemental coverage makes little significant difference for access measures. Being uninsured in US has significant negative consequences for access and quality ratings. CONCLUSIONS: For policy leaders, the five-nation survey demonstrates that some health systems are better able to minimize among low income adults financial barriers to access and quality care. However, the reliance on private coverage to supplement public coverage in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand can result in access inequities even within health systems that provide basic health coverage for all. If private insurance can circumvent queues or waiting times, low income adults may also be at higher risks for non-financial barriers since they are less likely to have supplemental coverage. Furthermore, greater inequality in care experiences by income is associated with more divided public views of the need for system reform. This finding was particularly striking in Canada where an increased incidence of disparities by income in 2001 compared to a 1998 survey was associated with diverging views in 2001.     

Predictors of Medicare costs in elderly beneficiaries with breast, colorectal, lung, or prostate cancer

Background: Determining the apportionment of costs of cancer care and identifying factors that predict costs are important for planning ethical resource allocation for cancer care, especially in markets where managed care has grown. Design: This study linked tumor registry data with Medicare administrative claims to determine the costs of care for breast, colorectal, lung and prostate cancers during the initial year subsequent to diagnosis, and to develop models to identify factors predicting costs. Subjects: Patients with a diagnosis of breast (n=1,952), colorectal (n=2,563), lung (n=3,331) or prostate cancer (n=3,179) diagnosed from 1985 through 1988. Results: The average costs during the initial treatment period were $12,141 (s.d.=$10,434) for breast cancer, $24,910 (s.d.=$14,870) for colorectal cancer, $21,351 (s.d.=$14,813) for lung cancer, and $14,361 (s.d.=$11,216) for prostate cancer. Using least squares regression analysis, factors significantly associated with cost included comorbidity, hospital length of stay, type of therapy, and ZIP level income for all four cancer sites. Access to health care resources was variably associated with costs of care. Total R ² ranged from 38% (prostate) to 49% (breast). The prediction error for the regression models ranged from <1% to 4%, by cancer site. Conclusions: Linking administrative claims with state tumor registry data can accurately predict costs of cancer care during the first year subsequent to diagnosis for cancer patients. Regression models using both data sources may be useful to health plans and providers and in determining appropriate prospective reimbursement for cancer, particularly with increasing HMO penetration and decreased ability to capture complete and accurate utilization and cost data on this population. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Income inequality and health. Coastal communities in British Columbia,Canada

OBJECTIVE: An imbalance in the distribution of economic resources, i.e., income inequality, is a characteristic of a community that may influence the aggregate health of the population. In North America, income inequality seems to be strongly related to mortality rates among American communities such as states and metropolitan areas but largely irrelevant for health at similar levels of geopolitical aggregation in Canada. This article summarizes relevant international and North American evidence and then explores relationships between income inequality and mortality rates among coastal communities in the province of British Columbia, Canada. METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis was conducted among twenty-four coastal communities in British Columbia, utilizing four measures based on the 1996 Census to measure income inequality and crude, age-standardized and age- and gender-specific mortality rates averaged over the five-year period 1994-98 to measure health. RESULTS: The three valid measures of income inequality were positively and significantly related to the crude mortality rate but were not significantly related to the age-standardized mortality rate. Two of the inequality measures were related to mortality rates for males aged 0-44 and for males aged 45-64 before but not after controlling for mean household income. DISCUSSION: Health researchers have yet to report a meaningful relationship between income inequality and population health within Canada. At the risk of committing the ecological fallacy, these findings provisionally support a psycho-social interpretation of the individual-level relationship between income and health wherein members of these communities compare themselves to an encompassing community, e.g., all Canadians.     

Analysing ‘cultural safety’ in mental health policy reform: lessons from British Columbia,Canada

In response to the mental health disparities experienced by Aboriginal peoples, and related inequities regarding the accessibility to appropriate mental health care, there has been a shift in health policy to endorse ‘By Indigenous for Indigenous’ health care delivery models. In Canada, this has resulted in the creation of new mechanisms for Aboriginal participation in health care planning by health authorities with the goal of fostering culturally safe mental health and addictions care. Yet, there is a growing concern about the effects of neo-liberal cost concerns in health policy on the effective implementation of such progressive reform ideas. Drawing on a critical policy review and ethnographic interviews with four community-based Aboriginal organisations and one health authority, this article uses ‘cultural safety’ as a critical lens to discuss emerging tensions within the context of regional Aboriginal mental health care reform in British Columbia. The findings of this study draw attention to the intersecting ways that dominant socio-historical and political ideologies undermine cultural safety in decision-making and funding practices, thereby creating situations of cultural risk for both Aboriginal people working within the area of Aboriginal mental health and by extension for Aboriginal people who are seeking mental health and addictions care. The insights gained from this research contribute to the ongoing dialogue regarding how to foster culturally safe mental health policy and practice, and for action in the political realm.     

Cancer survival in New Zealand: ethnic, social and geographical inequalities

This study investigated the combined effects of ethnicity, deprivation and geographical access to health services on the likelihood of survival from a range of common cancers in New Zealand. Individual cancer registry records of 99,062 cases of melanoma, colorectal, lung, breast and prostate cancers diagnosed in the period 1994-2004 were supplemented with small area information on social deprivation and estimates of travel time to the nearest primary care and cancer centre. Logistic regression was used to identify the variables associated with advanced extent of the disease at diagnosis. Adverse influences on survival were investigated using Cox proportional hazards models. Controlling for age and gender, Māori and Pacific peoples' ethnicity was strongly associated with poorer survival, partly because ethnicity was also linked to the likelihood of advanced disease at diagnosis. Living in a deprived area was related to later stage presentation and poorer survival of people with melanoma, but there was no other evidence that living in a deprived area or in a remote location were associated with later stage presentation. Some disease-specific trends in survival were observed. Colorectal and lung cancers were more likely to be fatal for people living in deprived areas, survival from prostate cancer was poor for men living remote from primary care, and people with colorectal, breast and prostate cancers had adverse survival chances if they lived distant from a cancer centre.     

Emergency shelters in Vancouver,Canada

The shelter experiences, employment history, income and social service needs utilization were examined among 124 emergency shelter users in Vancouver, British Columbia. Thirty-six (30.5%) reported this as their first experience with living in a shelter; the length of stay in the present shelter ranged from one to 90 days. Reasons for shelter use included: eviction from last place of residence, loss of job, or suffering from health problems rendering one unable to work. The highest unmet service needs were finding affordable housing and finding a job. This combination of scarcity of low-cost housing, health problems, and difficulty in finding employment have led to a situation where emergency shelters have become extended places of residence, a home to many.Sonia Acorn, RN, PhD is an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.This research was funded by the Mr. and Mrs. P.A. Woodward's Foundation and the Vancouver Foundation.     

Exploring the distribution of food stores in British Columbia: associations with neighbourhood socio-demographic factors and urban form

Several studies have identified disparities in access to food retailers among urban neighbourhoods with varied socio-demographic characteristics; but few studies have examined whether key zoning and siting mechanisms described in the urban planning literature explain differences in food store access. This study assessed associations between socio-demographic and urban planning variables with the availability of large supermarkets and stores selling fresh food within one kilometre buffers from residential addresses and the proximity to the closest food stores across 630 census tracts in British Columbia, Canada. Multivariate regression results indicated that neighbourhoods with higher median household income had significantly decreased access to food stores. Inclusion of urban planning factors in multivariate models, particularly housing and transportation considerations, explained much of the relation between area income and food store access, and were significant predictors of food store availability and proximity. Public health research and practice addressing food availability would benefit by incorporating theoretical perspectives from urban planning theory.     

Physician visits, hospitalizations, and socioeconomic status: ambulatory care sensitive conditions in a canadian setting

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether rates of physician visits for ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) conditions are lower for people of low-socioeconomic status than of high-socioeconomic status in an urban population with universal health care coverage. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Physician claims and hospital discharge abstracts from fiscal years 1998 to 2001 for urban residents of Manitoba, Canada. The 1996 Canadian Census public use database provided neighborhood household income information. The study included all continuously enrolled urban residents in the Manitoba Health Services Insurance Plan. STUDY DESIGN: Twelve ACS conditions definable using 3-digit ICD-9-CM codes permitted cross-sectional and longitudinal comparison of ambulatory visits and hospitalizations. Neighborhood household income data provided a measure of socioeconomic status. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Files were extracted from administrative data housed at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: All conditions showed a socioeconomic gradient with residents of the lowest income neighborhoods having both more visits and more hospitalizations than their counterparts in higher income areas. Six of nine conditions with a sufficient N showed individuals living in the lowest income neighborhoods to have significantly more ambulatory visits before hospitalization for an ACS condition than did those in the most affluent neighborhoods. Many conditions showed a gradient in rate of hospitalization even after controlling for the number of ambulatory care visits. CONCLUSIONS: In the Canadian universal health care plan, the poor have reasonable access to ambulatory care for ACS conditions. Ambulatory care may be more effective in preventing hospitalizations among relatively affluent individuals than among the less well off.     

Sociodemographic status, stress, and risk of prostate cancer. A prospective cohort study

PURPOSE: The social gradient in prostate cancer incidence observed in several studies may be a result of differential access to prostate cancer screening. We aim to assess if socioeconomic status, stress, and marital status are associated with prostate cancer risk in a population with free access to health care. METHODS: The 5,496 men who participated in the Copenhagen City Heart Study were asked about their income, educational level, stress level, and marital status during 1981-1983. These men were prospectively followed up in the Danish Cancer Registry until the end of 2002 and fewer than 0.1 % were lost to follow-up. RESULTS: During follow-up, 157 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Neither high income (HR = 1.17, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.78-1.76) nor high education (HR = 1.22; 95% CI: 0.76-1.96) were associated with risk of prostate cancer. There were also no differences in prostate cancer risk according to stress (HR = 0.99; 95% CI: 0.90-1.09) or marital status. CONCLUSION: In a racially homogeneous population of Caucasians with free access to health care, we found no evidence of a relation between sociodemographic variables or stress and subsequent risk of prostate cancer.     

The changing age distribution of prostate cancer in Canada

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer incidence rates are still increasing steadily; mortality rates are levelling, possibly decreasing; and hospitalization rates for many diagnoses are decreasing. Our objective is to examine changes in age distributions of prostate cancer during these times of change. METHODS: Prostate cancer cases were derived from the Canadian Cancer Registry, prostate cancer deaths from Vital Statistics, hospitalizations from the Hospital Morbidity File. Age-standardized rates were calculated based on the 1991 Canadian population. A prevalence correction for incidence rates was calculated. RESULTS: Age-specific incidence rates increased until 1995 for all ages, but a superimposed peak (1991-94) was greatest between ages 60-79. After 1995, increases in incidence continued for the under-70 age groups. Prevalence correction indicated the greatest underestimation of incidence rates for the oldest ages, but was less in Canada than in the United States. Mortality rates increased until 1994, then levelled and slowly decreased; age-specific mortality rates showed the greatest increase for the oldest ages but the earliest downturn for younger age groups. While hospitalizations dropped drastically after 1991, this drop was confined to elderly men (70+). CONCLUSIONS: Dramatic changes in age distributions of prostate cancer incidence, mortality and hospitalizations altered age profiles of men with prostate cancer. This illustrated the changing nature of prostate cancer as a public health issue and has important implications for health care provision, e.g., the increased numbers of younger new patients have different needs from the increasing numbers of elderly long-term patients who now spend less time in hospital.