CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORK WE DO IN CANADIAN HEALTH POLICY AND PATIENT ADVOCACY. BY REPRESENTING THE PATIENT VOICE, WE ENCOURAGE IMPROVEMENT IN CANCER TREATMENT ACCESS AND VALUE-BASED HEALTH CARE ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

March 2022: Co-published “Health Technology Assessment Process for Oncology Drugs: Impact of CADTH Changes on Public Payer Reimbursement Recommendations” which appeared in Current Oncology, a peer-reviewed medical journal covering oncology

PATIENT-FOCUSED HEALTH POLICY: WE NEED CHANGE

March 2023

There has been a lot of attention lately in the media about the Canada Health Transfer (CHT), which is the mechanism under the Canada Heath Act that ensures that the provinces and territories have sufficient funds to operate healthcare services in their jurisdiction. Healthcare in Canada, while seemingly free to the patient, is actually paid for by our tax dollars, so all of us should have a say in what that care looks like.

Please click this link to read the full report 

PATIENTS REDEFINING HEALTH CARE IN CANADA ANNUAL SUMMIT

(formerly known as Drug Pricing Policy Summit) Toronto, Ontario

Please click this link to read reports and information from past Summits, view the presentation recordings, read the reports, and get the details on this year’s Summit: Patients Redefining the Future of Health Care in Canada Summit

ADDITIONAL PRESENTATIONS

CLICK HERE TO WATCH/LISTEN:

Podcast: Cancer Care in Canada – A Disrupted System Needing Disruptive Innovation

Learn from Louise Binder, Save Your Skin Foundation, Barry Stein, Colorectal Canada, and Eva Villalba, Quebec Cancer Coalition, on the impact of COVID-19 and how we can innovate cancer care services. August 2021

Presentation at CADTH Symposium 2020, with Louise Binder, Health Policy Consultant, Save Your Skin Foundation. November 2020

TIME TO LISTING

Click here to view informative infographics and resources from Innovative Medicines Canada: Time to Listing ~ Canada’s drug review and public reimbursement process is sequential and every step adds to the timeline

MONCTON PRE-ELECTION TOWN HALL: MAJOR HEALTH CONCERNS FOR NEW BRUNSWICKERS

July 31, 2018, at the New Brunswick Community College.

This town hall included an impressive slate of participants including keynote speaker André Picard, author, health reporter and columnist for The Globe and Mail. Three people with lived experience – advocates for cancer, mental health and arthritis – described the challenges of navigating the complex health care system, how they had to research and find their own treatment options and at times travel out of province to receive the care they needed.  Additionally, a panel of experts focused on the need for policy and system improvements: New Brunswick’s Health Council (NBHC), CEO Stéphane Robichaud, Louise Binder, Health Policy Consultant SYSF, and Linda Wilhelm, Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance.  New Brunswick Minister of Health, the Honorable Benoît Bourque and Green Party Leader, David Coon also shared their views about health care.

Click here to watch the recording of the town hall that we have made available on YouTube, and feel free to share this link with your network.

Click here to read the event report: Moncton Pre-Election Town Hall on Major Health Concerns – Key Messages  August 15, 2018

TORONTO PRE-ELECTION TOWN HALL: MAJOR HEALTH CONCERNS FOR ONTARIANS

March 28, 2018, at the CBC on Front Street.

André Picard, Health Columnist for the Globe and Mail, opened the evening and set the tone for the session, sharing his expert knowledge acquired over more than 30 years on our health care system. We heard from a variety of people with lived experience on their very personal health issues and corresponding challenges accessing timely and affordable life-saving treatment. We also heard from health and mental health policy experts for the need for policy and system improvements and from politicians who expressed a deep and personal understanding of where our health care system is failing and a sincere desire to improve it. We also had a very engaged audience who articulately voiced their individual concerns and asked intelligent and insightful questions of our expert panel and politicians.

Click here to watch the recording of the town hall that we have made available on YouTube, and feel free to share this link with your network.

Click here to read the event report: Ontario Pre-Election Town Halls on Major Health Concerns – Key Messages  April 26, 2018

REPORT BACK FROM VALUE BASED HEALTH CARE SUMMIT

This one-day Summit was hosted in Toronto by CADTH, CIHI, Amgen, Canada Infoway and Rotman School of Management. It brought together 125 attendees from a number of stakeholder groups to discuss the concept of Value Based Health Care (VBHC) as described in the Porter/Teisberg book “Redefining Health Care “.   To read the event report, please click here:  Report Back from Value Based Health Care Summit March 19, 2018

INNOVATIVE DRUGS: A BUREAUCRATIC OBSTACLE COURSE

Prepared by Mathieu Bédard, Economist at the MEI, April 2018

nnovative drugs help people enjoy longer, healthier, more productive lives. They also allow our health care systems to save money.
However, the reimbursement of new drugs by Canada’s public plans can face considerable delays due to a very burdensome regulatory process. Far from resolving this problem, a new reform will duplicate certain stages of this process and possibly lengthen it.

Click here to read the full Viewpoint – Innovative Drugs: A Bureaucratic Obstacle Course

Et en francais: Le Point – La course à obstacles des nouveaux médicaments

IMPROVING ACCESS TO NEW CANCER TREATMENTS IN CANADA

Many Canadians are surprised to learn that a drug’s approval for sale by Health Canada doesn’t equate to access to these often lifesaving therapies. For cancer patients, time is valuable and access to effective therapies is critical. While advances in screening, detection and treatment have improved outcomes, an estimated 80,800 Canadians are expected to die of cancer in 2017. Health Canada has implemented mechanisms to improve timely access to innovative and potentially curative therapies for those with life-threatening conditions, including cancer. Public funding of these treatments, however, has not kept pace with their approval. Patients are suffering the consequences. Drugs may be available for doctors to prescribe, but unless they are reimbursed by the government, new cancer treatments are inaccessible to many patients.

Click here to read the full white paper published by Lymphoma Canada and 12 other signatories (including Save Your Skin Foundation): Improving Access to Innovative Cancer Therapies in Canada

HEALTH CANADA SUBMISSION

Our health care system is complex with many key decision makers at either federal, national or provincial levels that are responsible for the health care services Canadians receive. Canada, like many countries, is facing escalating healthcare costs as payers struggle to reconcile drug budgets with patient access to promising new health technologies. Health Canada holds different responsibilities influencing the landscape of our health care system, including drug safety, quality and effectiveness, and an important role with respect to drug pricing.

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) undertook major consultations regarding possible reform of its Compendium of Policies, Guidelines and Procedures and during this 1st phase of the consultation initiative, asked for input on how to rethink the Guidelines in order to improve performance in ensuring that pharmaceutical patent holders do not charge excessive prices. We, as patient organizations, recognize the regulations overseeing drug pricing need to be re-evaluated, especially given the changes in our ecosystems since the inception of these regulations.

We are grateful to all those involved in seeking the input of groups like ours and other stakeholders on protecting Canadians from excessive drug prices.  Save Your Skin Foundation participated with 16 other concerned patient groups.  Click here to read and download: Recommendations on Proposed Amendments to the Patented Medicines Regulations, June 28, 2017  

BIOCANRX CANCER STAKEHOLDER ALLIANCE LEARNING INSTITUTE

Click below to read the public document written by the participants of the 2017 BioCanRx -Cancer Stakeholder Alliance Learning Institute that was held at the 2017 Summit for Cancer Immunotherapy (Summit4CI) from June 25 to June 28, in Gatineau, Quebec. Louise Binder was one of these participants.

2017 Community Dissemination Report

This report serves to share the key research take-away messages presented at the Summit 4CI as well as the group reflections of The Learning Institute with the oncology patient and researcher community, BioCanRx, the Cancer Stakeholder Alliance, and the general public.

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Making awareness and education available is crucial. Since 2006, the Foundation has worked to raise awareness of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers focusing on education, prevention and the need for improved patient care.