Canadians write a new Rx for healthcare. Canada's healthcare system is not a panacea, but it raises interesting issues for the United States

The Canadians have been impressive in delivering universal healthcare access and high-quality care. Operating under global budgets set by provincial governments, Canadian hospitals have prudently managed available resources to meet community needs. A weakness of this single-payer system, however, is its inability to effectively coordinate and integrate services delivered by hospitals, physicians, and other providers. As the U.S. health system faces stringent cost containment with President Bill Clinton's proposal, significant savings are expected of U.S. hospitals. New alliances constrained by global budgets might require healthcare services managers to operate under a disparate set of assumptions and incentives. Before making such a transition, we can learn from the experiences of our Canadian colleagues. The challenges for both nations in the remaining years of this century will be drawn primarily from the effective macromanagement controls of the Canadian system and the lessons being learned from the U.S. managed care networks. This will occur as each nation strives to provide a more effective, less costly, integrated delivery of healthcare services.