Health care continues to be the top issue for most Canadians who want assurances from political leaders that they will have access to quality health care when they need it. Health care officials and politicians across the country are challenged by the sustainability problem: how to pay for quality universal health care when costs are rising, and other social programs also need funding.

With the new Conservative government in Ottawa, and three major provinces – BC, Alberta and Quebec – considering a new role for the private sector in health care, the debate has come a long way from the Romanow Commission’s report in 2003. The emerging model appears to be health care guarantees, whereby Canadians who cannot access timely care under the public system may turn to private health care providers or travel to other jurisdictions for services that will be paid for by governments. In this new dynamic, private sector suppliers to the health care system will be under more scrutiny as the public policy debate over who accesses, delivers and funds health care services grows.

Given the multi-jurisdictional nature of health delivery and innovation across Canada, this practice regularly draws upon Global’s provincial consultants across Canada to provide a national or province-specific suite of services. The Health and Pharma team monitors, advocates, and provides strategic and tactical advice on the following issues:

• Regulatory issues, such as the health product approval process
• Intellectual property issues (e.g., pharmaceutical patent policies)
• Federal/Provincial/Territorial initiatives, including the National Pharmaceuticals Strategy
• Provincial reimbursement policies and trends
• Industrial incentive policy and marketing practice regulations
• Cross-border trade of pharmaceuticals
• Legislation such as the Food and Drugs Act modernization
• Monitoring Federal and provincial parliamentary committees and political initiatives

Global’s Health and Pharma practice serves international innovative pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, health associations, health care product manufacturers among others.

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