[OnTheIce]

Regina Regina:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Much is correct given that a whole health care industry in the US has sprouted up to provide services to Canadians.

Again that is another untrue statement. For "profit" healthcare is just that, and is there to make a profit from any revenue source available. The fact that 85% of our population lives within a few hundred miles of the US border and that some will seek quicker treatment or second opinions shouldn't be confused with a lack of service or expertise in Canada.

Bart has nothing to back up what he's saying....nothing to see here.

[BartSimpson]

Regina Regina:

Name 10 US hospitals along the US Canadian border that were erected to treat Canadian patients.

No idea.

A better question would be: Name ten US hospitals that have expanded capacity to treat Canadian patients.

Ten hospitals citing investments to meet the needs of Canadian patients in their current RFPs (requests for proposal) before the US DHHS are:

1. Brigham and Children's Hospital (Boston)
2. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)
3. Swedish Medical Center - First Hill (Seattle)
4. Swedish Medical Center - Cherry Hill (Seattle)
5. Kalispell Regional Medical Center (Kalispell, MT)
6. Benefis Hospitals (Great Falls, MT)
7. Children's Hospital of Michigan (Detroit)
8. Mercy Health System of Maine (Portland, ME)
9. Lenox Hill Hospital (New York City)
10. Dublin Methodist Hospital (Dublin, Ohio)

Source: US DHHS PubReader article 1597

Also referred to on the PubReader is how Quebec's health department is looking to send more cancer patients to the US. This follows a trend that started in 1999 with Quebec sending cancer patients to the US.

[BartSimpson]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

Bart has nothing to back up what he's saying....nothing to see here.

Just because you say it's correct, doesn't mean it is.

[OnTheIce]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Regina Regina:

Name 10 US hospitals along the US Canadian border that were erected to treat Canadian patients.

No idea.

A better question would be: Name ten US hospitals that have expanded capacity to treat Canadian patients.

The best question would be, share an article or anything to back up your claim that 'many' Canadians are sent to the US to take advantage of PICU facilities.

We're waiting.

[Regina]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Regina Regina:

Name 10 US hospitals along the US Canadian border that were erected to treat Canadian patients.

No idea.

A better question would be: Name ten US hospitals that have expanded capacity to treat Canadian patients.

Ten hospitals citing investments to meet the needs of Canadian patients in their current RFPs (requests for proposal) before the US DHHS are:

1. Brigham and Children's Hospital (Boston)
2. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)
3. Swedish Medical Center - First Hill (Seattle)
4. Swedish Medical Center - Cherry Hill (Seattle)
5. Kalispell Regional Medical Center (Kalispell, MT)
6. Benefis Hospitals (Great Falls, MT)
7. Children's Hospital of Michigan (Detroit)
8. Mercy Health System of Maine (Portland, ME)
9. Lenox Hill Hospital (New York City)
10. Dublin Methodist Hospital (Dublin, Ohio)

Source: US DHHS PubReader article 1597

Also referred to on the PubReader is how Quebec's health department is looking to send more cancer patients to the US. This follows a trend that started in 1999 with Quebec sending cancer patients to the US.

No that is not a better question and there is nothing stated that lists any of those hospitals expanding because of Canadian patients. Zero. You originally said "sprouted up" and now you've only listed 10 hospitals in proximity to the border.

[bootlegga]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

I ran this query about two years ago when Andy first posed it and I found then that Canada was behind the USA (per 100,000 of population) on ICU beds, PICU in particular, trauma centers, and medical transports of all forms.

At that time and still the fair comparison with Canada is California. Our population numbers are pretty close but I will note the geographic disparity is huge and the dispersal of Canadian population is far greater than in California.

Those last two factors logically would require Canada to outpace California on the number of medical transports and, in particular, air ambulances. Except that Canada is far behind California in this respect but I'll leave that for now to focus on the topic at hand.

The following is excerpted from an Excel sheet from Health Canada and I can email it to anyone who asks or you can Google it and download it for yourself.

Hospital Beds Staffed and In Operation, Fiscal Year 2012-2013

This sheet does not discern between ICU/PICU beds so I will use the aggregate number of ICU beds for comparison and you can extrapolate the PICU beds from there...

Canada's total reported number of all ICU beds for FY 2012-2013 = 2907

Here are the stats for California for 2010:

0:

ICU.PNG

California's total ICU beds = 71,147 (and that's four years ago).

California's total of PICU beds (13,102) outnumbers Canada's reported total of all ICU beds.

And that's for similar populations.

Your comparison is incorrect - acute care is NOT intensive care. Intensive care is a step above acute care and not at all equivalent.

Your numbers are also off; Canada has 3500+ intensive care beds and 73000+ acute care beds:

http://www.cihi.ca/web/resource/en/hfp_ ... 14_en.xlsx

While we may have fewer intensive care beds, we actually have about the same number of acute care beds than California does, assuming that the number of beds is growing at the same 2.2% shown in your chart. However, given your stats show that 7 of 9 bed types were declining in numbers, I won't hold my breath that California's number have increased that much.

Better yet, we pay far less for those beds than you do, as we spend about 10-11% of GDP on healthcare, while your country spends 16% on healthcare.