Health system info tool now online

OTTAWA — It’s a new online tool with a treasure trove of information about the health system in Canada. Better yet, it uses interactive, easy-tounderstand graphics to show how the system is performing at the national, provincial and local levels.

OurHealthSystem.ca, a public website developed by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), went live Thursday. As a means of educating Canadians about their $ 200- billion- a- year health system, there’s never been anything quite like it.

The website allows users to compare 15 indicators in five areas of performance measurement — access, quality of care, spending, health outcomes and health promotion and disease prevention — chosen after consultations with 3,000 Canadians in February.

Where possible, it also presents information on whether Canadians have an equal chance at good health and health services, a sixth area of performance that rated highly with the public.

The website offers information at the national and provincial level for all 15 indicators, at the health region level for 10 indicators and at the hospital level for three.

CIHI says the website is not intended to rank or rate organizations or regions. But by highlighting top performers, the site shows Canadians where things are working well and shows system managers which peers they can learn from, it says. Here are some surprising things about the health system that emerge from the data.

1. The risk of premature death from avoidable causes is four times greater for men from poorer neighbourhoods than for women from richer neighbourhoods.

2. Thirty per cent of deaths in Canada among those under 75 are from preventable or treatable causes.

3. Only 22 per cent of family doctors in Canada say their patients can get a same- or next-day appointment. By comparison, 86 per cent of family doctors in France say same- or nextday appointments are possible. In the United States, the comparable number is 47 per cent.

4. In 2011, 17 per cent of Canadians had no regular doctor, up from 15 per cent in 2003, even though the number of family doctors per 100,000 Canadians rose to 106 from 96 during the same period.

5. Richer women are significantly less likely to be obese than poorer women in Canada. But richer men are more likely to be obese than poorer men.

6. Seven per cent of 15- to 17-yearolds who live in smoke-free households say they smoke. When there’s another smoker in the house, the number jumps to 22 per cent.

7. Only 15 per cent of richer Canadians smoke, compared to 26 per cent of poorer Canadians and 40 per cent of First Nations members.