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The following documents contain the written submissions received by the Competition Bureau in response to its market study notice, which was issued on April 8, 2021. All submissions received as part of this consultation exercise are available to the public, except where confidentiality is specifically requested.
Submitted by: Health Care Quality Unit, Health Care System Division, Strategic Policy Branch, Health Canada
HCSD input to Competition Bureau market study of digital health care:
Are there ways that policies can better support innovation, choice and access to digital health care solutions? For example, do specific rules unnecessarily impact the ability to offer virtual products and services to Canadians? Please explain.
- Bureau may wish to consider the conclusions/recommendations of the Report of the Advisory Panel on healthcare innovation.
- Bureau may wish to consider the results/recommendations of the CMA’s Virtual Care Task Force.
- Bureau may wish to consider the results/recommendations of the CIFAR Task Force on Artificial Intelligence for Health report.
What other barriers are impeding Canadians’ access to virtual care and restricting innovation and choice in the health care sector? Can these barriers be reduced—and, if so, how—in order to facilitate the entry and expansion of digital solutions?
See above noted reports.
What measures have other jurisdictions taken to improve access to virtual care? How have barriers to innovation and choice been eliminated, while balancing legal and regulatory requirements in the delivery of digital health care solutions? Can similar measures be adopted in Canada? Why or why not?
Will defer to PT jurisdictions to respond on their specific virtual care measures and barriers.
Bureau may wish to consider the CMA’s Virtual Care Task Force report for examples of virtual care internationally and in provinces/territories
- Bureau may wish to consider the work of the OECD
What impact has the COVID-19 pandemic had on innovation and choice in Canada’s health care sector, and on Canadians’ ability to access health care virtually? Have any barriers hindered the adoption of digital solutions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Please explain.
Provinces and territories have responded to the pandemic by increasing some health care service offerings virtually (will defer to PT jurisdictions on specifics worth highlighting). Will defer to PTs to elaborate on specific ongoing barriers (as in Q 2).