Howard C W, Saraswat D K, McLeod G, Yeung A, Jeong D, Lam J
Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Can Prosthet Orthot J. 2020 Mar 16;2(2):33489. doi: 10.33137/cpoj.v2i2.33489. eCollection 2019.
The Canadian healthcare system serves as an example of equity and federal service to citizens across the world. However, it is not without its challenges. Prosthetic coverage across Canada is highly variable and largely unable to provide equal coverage for Canadian persons living with amputation. Many persons with limb loss are forced to rely upon personal resources, fundraising, or the charity of non-governmental organizations in order to meet this basic healthcare need. This disparity in the Canadian healthcare system is unusual and largely undescribed in the literature. We thus explore the nature of Canadian healthcare prosthetic coverage across Canada, investigating the variability in coverage, presence of prosthetic coverage policies, clarity of policy, eligibility criteria, and interval of prosthetic replacement. Our findings highlight potential areas for improvement within current Canadian healthcare policy.
加拿大医疗保健系统是全球公平性以及联邦为公民提供服务的一个典范。然而，它也并非没有挑战。加拿大各地的假肢覆盖情况差异很大，基本上无法为截肢的加拿大人提供平等的覆盖。许多肢体缺失者被迫依靠个人资源、筹款或非政府组织的慈善援助，以满足这一基本医疗需求。加拿大医疗保健系统中的这种差异很不寻常，且在文献中基本未被描述。因此，我们探讨了加拿大全国医疗保健假肢覆盖的性质，调查了覆盖范围的差异、假肢覆盖政策的存在情况、政策的清晰度、资格标准以及假肢更换间隔。我们的研究结果突出了加拿大现行医疗保健政策中潜在的改进领域。
