Canada's innovation adoption deficit
Health care in Canada has a huge impact on the economy. It is a sector of the economy, however, that does not embrace innovation and change the way other industries do. I believe there are two fundamental problems that are challenging the sustainability of our health care system. First, there is a serious innovation adoption deficit. We are simply not turning new ideas to deliver health more effectively and efficiently into practice fast enough.

Shortage of leaders for innovation
Second, there is a shortage of skilled leaders and change agents within the system who are able to drive innovation adoption and create the “culture of innovation” our system needs. The health sector now represents 11.3 per cent of Canadian GDP. Statistics Canada reports that over 2 million people are employed in Canada’s health care and social system. 630,000 of those are health care professionals – nurses, pharmacists, technicians, therapists, social workers and doctors, like me - delivering services on the front line. Health care spending in Canada, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, was estimated to be over $183 billion dollars in 2009. That’s more than the total GDP of Ukraine, a country of over 46 million people.

Something has to be done to arrest our system's rate of growth
At the same time, our health care system has grown at a rate of 7.1 per cent every year since 2001 with some economists projecting that health care spending will consume 70 to 80 per cent of provincial government budgets by 2030, unless something is done to arrest these rates of growth. However, looking at health care as a sunk-cost, rather than as a strategic investment ignores the possibilities in front of us. Imagine how much better – in terms of patient outcomes, and overall productivity our health system could be if we got serious about fixing the efficiency problems that so clearly exist in our system.

Inconvenient truths
As Canadians, we are all rightfully proud of our health care system, but there are inconvenient truths about that system, which simply cannot be ignored. The first of those truths is that there are few – if any – incentives for innovation within Canada’s health care system itself. And as a result, it is not delivering the results that it could. While Canada’s scientists and researchers are among the most prolific and capable in the world, we are aren’t translating world-class science and research into better results on the front lines of health care.

We really must do better
Canada ranks among the top five nations, per capita, when it comes to the development of scientific results and new knowledge, but our track record on innovation in the health sector is among the lowest among our comparator countries. Clearly, we have the capability to do better. We must do better. The second hard truth is that managing Canada’s health care system is going to get a lot harder before it gets easier. 

Written by Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Chair of the Ivey Centre for Health Innovation & Leadership at the Richard Ivey School of Business.