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Create Better Health Outcomes through Innovation

On-going

Way Forward Commitment:

Nowhere is the need for better outcomes more important than in the health care sector. Health care makes up approximately 40 per cent of the provincial budget and it is our greatest area of expenditure; yet, Newfoundland and Labrador has some of the poorest health outcomes in the country. Our government is committed to stabilizing spending on health care – which has seen a 130 per cent increase since 2001 and is the highest in the country on a per capita basis – through the adoption of better management practices and a focus on sustainability, value and prevention.

We have set a number of targets aimed at improving health outcomes for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and at bringing indicators more in line with Canadian averages by 2025. These targets are to:

  • Increase the breastfeeding initiation rate by seven per cent;
  • Reduce the obesity rate by five per cent;
  • Reduce the smoking rate by four per cent;
  • Increase the physical activity rate by seven per cent; and
  • Increase the rate of vegetable and fruit consumption by five per cent.

Building on the momentum of recent investments in e-health infrastructure in this province, in 2018-19 our government will launch a Health Innovation Action Plan. This action plan will mobilize key stakeholders across the health and community services system and the life sciences sector, including government, industry and academia, to improve partnerships and to strengthen innovation. By encouraging the adoption of new processes and improved technologies, the Health Innovation Action Plan will help lower costs, improve services, and provide better care for residents while helping to stimulate investment and employment opportunities in the life sciences sector.

Our government has adopted the Triple Aim framework for health care: better care, better health and better value. Implementing this framework will require the integration of technology to lower costs and improve services, patient experience and – most importantly – health outcomes.

What We’ve Accomplished:

  • The Department of Health and Community Services (HCS) was diligent in the 2018-19 budget year in maintaining health care spending at approximately $3 billion despite increasing cost pressures such as new drug therapies, demand for long term care beds and aging infrastructure.
  • Work has begun towards creating an Health Innovation Action Plan. HCS has consulted with key stakeholders and it is anticipated that an action plan will be released by the end of 2019.