Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 25, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 focus Winnipeg free press Wjk 4 a june 1997 f i i Survey finds higher spending Doest always work poor health raises costs this article is based on the project to investigate provincial health expenditures on health care to Manitoban by Marian Shanahan and others at the Manitoba Centre for health policy the province of Manitoba spends about billion a year one third of its total budget on health but How is that divided up How much is spent per year on average for each of us to obtain health care in hospitals or from doctors or in nursing Homes is the Money going where it is needed most is the same amount spent regardless of where we live in Manitoba answers to Many of these questions were found in a recent project by the Manitoba Centre for health policy and Efalua the project converted spending on health care into dollars per capita for 11 newly formed regional health authorities As Well As nine socioeconomic areas in in our we took into account differences in the population mix for the proportion of elderly people in the Dif Ferent we were Able to account for 79 per cent of Manitoba health most signify we accounted for expenditures Accord ing to where people not where they received we used premature mortality rates or death before age As a measure of health status and thus the need for health pm is a widely accepted indicator of the general health of the pm is times higher in the least healthy areas of the province compared to the most we found that areas with higher rates of premature mor thus poorer have higher care the province spends twice As much on health care for people living in Winnipeg inner Core compared to South Eastman reflect ing differences in pm in these in the difference in spending on Winnipeg and no Winnipeg Resi dents is despite this Small difference in Overall spend there Are significant sector sector differences Between Winnipeg and no Winnipeg included in our study were expenditures on phys other professionals nursing lon term care mental health hospitals and Home sectors that we excluded because of missing or incomplete data were Public Community health Cen Manitoba cancer treatment and research North Ern and Rural capital costs and red highlights include spending is higher in areas where one would expect it to be where people Are in poor health see areas which had the highest pm hence the worst health were found to have the highest health care expenditures for their we Howe Tell if the Dol Lars Are being spent on the most appropriate we found considerable differences in How much Manitoba spends on health care for Resi dents living in different areas of the for All the health services included in this pro the Range was from per South East Man resident to on residents of Winnipeg inner per capita expenditures for Winnipeg Resi dents were for no Winnipeg a Dif Ference of Only six per we compared per capita spend ing in each Sec for on mental health facilities and so there is a pronounced Dif Ference in the amount spent for care delivered by physicians and other proves on average for Winnipeg Resi dents compared to for non Winnipeg Resi dents a difference of 33 per spend ing on nursing Homes and Long term care Hospi tals also is higher for Winnipeg per capita spending on mental health facilities is higher for Rural Resi this is because of the two Large Provin Cial facilities in Selkirk and it appears Over the people with men Tal health problems have moved to regions that have mental health either to be near the facilities or to live in Winnipeg residents receive most of their inpatient mental health care in the psychiatric wards of and thus Hospital expenditures for Winnipeg residents include mental health Reliance on Hospital care varies significantly from one area of the province to Northern for Are far More Likely to have a higher proportion of their expenditures on hospitals than Are Southern res in conclusion the purpose of this project was to improve our understanding of Overall expenditures in the healthcare different methods of calculating per capita spending pro Duce different we therefore tested Dif Ferent methods and found the results to be the same those areas that had lower per capita expenditures continued to be no matter which of several alternatives we similar those areas with High premature mortality had higher expenditures on health regard less of the method this project should provide useful information As Manitoba moves to a regional system for health for we found that Many people do not receive care in their area of some such As South Eastman and North provided less than half of the inpatient Hospital care received by their the allocation of funding for the new has will need to address the Issue of regional Cross order by providing a breakdown of sector by sector we begin to address questions about substitution of one Type of health care for Aneth if we invest More in Home for can we expect spending on Hospital care or nursing Homes to go Down this information is useful As decisions Are being made about mov ing resources from one health care sector to the this project goes a Long farther than any other jurisdiction in North America towards giving an account of How Money is spent to provide health care according to where people not where they receive we found big differences in How much was spent on health care depending on where a person by including a Mea sure of health status in the we also know that More resources Are channelled to those who need it those who Are in the poorest looking at these findings another we see that poor health persists in some areas despite More spending on health it is a pattern that we have noted the question still to be answered How can we spend our Money More productively in addressing the Root causes of poor health in Manitoba we Are continuing our research in this letters to the children too often heard and seen i would like to disagree with Ruth Teichroeb circumcision begins childhood free june 15 that the victorian attitude that Chil Dren should be seen and not heard is alive and for every time i have attempted to enjoy the Cinema or even a quiet dinner there have been too Many occasions where i have had to Call the parents of misbehaving Chil Dren to the being very careful to stay away from afternoon childrens and family i have not brought these problems on during the last performance of okla homa at Rainbow stage not on kids i had the appalling experience of having the performance drowned out by five under the watch Ful eyes of their they spent the entire performance racing Down the kicking their chairs and throwing food at each after allowing a Graceful period to allow these people to Settle Down at which Point they had not i pleaded with the asking them to assume some level of responsibility for their the snarling response they gave me still echoes in my this Outing is just As much for them As it is for everyone its a learning experience for my final remark to the Mother who made this statement was Brief How could this be a learning experience for them they we rent showing any inter est in the performance and All they seemed to be learning was How to race each other in the situations like this one Are not at All that As there Are Many of us sitting around parents like angry at their Lack of better judgment in raising their i am not afraid of these people and i will stand up to whether i am paying for a theatre seat or i am enjoying a night of casual i think i have the right not to have my evening destroyed by some parents who think that their hype manic creative Little jewels can do whatever they when they if Treyve ruined my i am certainly not going to let them have i hold no dignity or respect for parents who assume neither for their Chil Dren nor for the people subject to their childrens Kenneth Baldwin Winnipeg i f How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address tetters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at letters letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone flood watched from Ghana to experience the storm of the Cen Tury in Early april was quite incredible for not having lived in Winnipeg for some but to survive the flood of the Century would have been even More of an unbelievable i left the coun try a week following the Here in West i have been fortunate to have Access to Good news coverage by both bbl and radio Canada i was the entire world now knows where Winnipeg having had the Opportunity to read the Winnipeg free press Here in Ghana featuring All the flood news april 29 May 9 has been very exciting for three cheers for the tremendous Pho tos and Good i Well personally i can relate to Many of the mentioned flood affected As i grew up in Southern some of the stories and articles brought a tear to my i think it is from All Arti cles i have i commend All the vol the red the salvation Mcc and the working together to help each other is the i am presently working on a Cuso assignment in the Northern Region of Ghana where the Rainy season has just but we Are not anticipating any major i wish All concerned folks in the flooded zones Success in rebuilding their environment and their v Linda Dyck Chan a Ghana resident kept track of the flood by the free press and radio try War crimes in Canada the ukrainian Canadian commune Tys position has always been that any regardless of his racial or religious suspected of hav ing committed a crime against human Ity should be brought to Justice in Canada under Canadian criminal this is a principled we support Justice Jules Desch Enes made in Canada solution rather than the flawed american approach to dealing with alleged War which saw John Demjan Juk accused of being Ivan the terrible deported to Given a show sentenced to and Only released after the intervention of the supreme court of which found him Borys Sydoruk special projects ukrainian Canadian civil liberties association Calgary put forces expertise to work Leona Dueck Penners letter taking a closer look at the military free May 22 prompted Janis Thiessens dont forget real military role free june i would like to add to what they have the armed forces Are praiseworthy for some excellent we know where they have been we also need them to defend our Borders disputes Are settled politically and for search and but they should move More into refer and environmental there is no shortage of need for their to serve their country in such con positive and beneficial ways would Model a healthy Atti tude toward All life much better than training to kill and and it Cost billion our biggest budget for anything is the Why it was greatly appreciated that the armed forces helped so much with the flood of the Century and we wont for get How we needed Maier Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau ;