All posts by: Dr. Wayne Taylor

The Hidden Danger Of Loosening Regulations On Prescription Imports

By D. Wayne Taylor This article appears in Investor’s Business Daily. Scott Gottlieb, Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recently promised to ensure that all U.S. medicines are safe and effective.  But he won’t be able to do so if Congress proceeds with a misguided plan to allow patients to import prescription

Message from Guest Editor Wayne Taylor – July edition of Healthcare Management Forum

It is almost a certainty today that every so-called “healthcare system” in the world rations care in some manner, whether by price point of insurance as in the private part of the American healthcare system or by government fiat as in Canada. This issue of Healthcare Management Forum (HMF) looks at what happens when care

Protecting Canadians from Excessive Drug Prices – Consultation Questions

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has produced ample evidence showing the correlation between price controls and R&D spending. We know that the more downward pressure on prices, the less R&D done in that country. In Canada, drug prices are set by a  non-elected federal body called the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board

Canada is Shortchanging the U.S. in Pharmaceutical Research and Development

President Trump recently asked CEOs of major research-based pharmaceutical manufacturers to increase research and development of new medicines, and add jobs in America. Given the fact that more is already spent on pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) in the United States than anywhere else in the world, this presents a serious challenge for pharmaceutical companies.

Universal, comprehensive access to innovative therapies

There’s no truth to the link between innovative pharmaceuticals and the sustainability of healthcare spending. Most growth in both levels and rates of increases in healthcare spending is centred around increased utilization due to aging, less healthy populations, economic growth, and the growth in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (utilization); the adoption of newer, better

Continence Training Needs Assessment of Residential Long-Term Care Personal Support Workers

Urinary incontinence (UI) and fecal incontinence (FI) are embarrassing and debilitating conditions that are becoming collectively a major, growing health concern for men and women of all ages worldwide. Recent research showed that professional caregivers in long-term facilities (nursing homes) were not confident in their skills to care for FI residents. This long-term care residential-based

The sober (for now) second thoughts of a former public servant and retired academic paid now only to “think”

This article explores why Canada’s healthcare system is not universal, comprehensive, “reasonably” accessible, portable across provinces or internationally, or public.

Rethinking the financing of healthcare in Canada

Canadians need to talk about their healthcare, about who pays for what, when. Lack of money is not the issue; how that money is spent is the issue—what public healthcare is covering and not covering. The same dollar amount can be spent quite differently and more effectively. The 1950s first-dollar, single-payor decision shifted the burden

Patented Medicine Prices Review Board: Rethinking the Guidelines

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board has seen a turbulent 30-year history, and it’s time for a review of legislation that employs ambiguous terms and standards. We need a new perspective of the health system that does not revolve around drug price and voids the concept that one can easily identify and “solve” excessive prices.

Rule of Law and State Capacity: Keys to Market Access in Developing and Resource-Constrained Markets

Despite the availability of essential medicines in developing countries, one-third of the world’s population does not have access to essential medicines due to barriers including money, power, politics, and ideologies. Market failures and lack of political will to create stable, ethical and law-abiding government administrations that can support infrastructure and resources should carry a significant amount