Evolutions in hospital funding in Canada.

Although global funding continues to be the principal method used for hospital reimbursement in Canada, a number of provincial ministries of health have recently introduced supplementary funding approaches. These initiatives aim to replace the mentality of "what you spend is what you get" with a funding system that is based on what hospitals produce. This article compares such initiatives in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. Aspects examined include the hospital "product", cost determination, incentives, the definition of equity, the figure of merit for funding, population-based funding, and quality.