After many years of success, EvidenceNetwork.ca is no longer in operation. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the organization over the past decade including our dedicated researchers, newspaper editors, readers and funders. However, now it is time to move onto new ways of looking at knowledge mobilization and policy. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Shannon Sampert at s.sampert@uwinnipeg.ca.

Private delivery of healthcare can work in a publicly funded system but comes with risks

A decision by the Alberta Health Services last month seemed innocuous enough — to swap the tender for laboratory services from a United States-based transnational corporation to an Australian one — but it provoked a furore of discontent.

Backgrounder: Healthcare with user fees

The most basic way of categorizing healthcare financing is to separate public and private healthcare costs. Public financing includes expenditures from any level of government (financed through taxation) as well as social insurance funds (these are much more widespread in European health care systems, although Workers’ Compensation Boards would be included here).