In Canada, healthcare is provincially managed which means that not all treatments are available in every province. Patients have to travel to another province to get the care they need as some treatments still require testing and validation, others require special doctors or equipment or need facilities that only certain provinces provide.

In the Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island – the provinces work together to provide specialized care for children and young people with blood disorders, cancer, or tumors. Most kids with cancer in the Maritimes go to the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This model of collaboration reflects how provinces can help patients get the care they need, no matter where they live.

To build on this model of collaboration, a new project team is working to better understand how this partnership works in the Maritimes by speaking to health care workers and government health officials in each province to find out about the laws, rules, agreements, and steps that make this joint care possible.

Once the preliminary information is collected from the Maritimes, the team will speak with health officials in other provinces to support patients in other parts of Canada who have to travel for treatment.

The study will present information into a report as a Case Study. This report will explain

• the tools and methods the Maritime provinces use to help patients travel between provinces for care.
• Offer advice to other provinces on how to make it easier for their patients to get treatments not available nearby.

Considering the current restrictions within the Canadian healthcare system and infrastructure, the project is pivotal to help patients and families get the medical care they need, even if that care is not close to home. Additionally, this model of collaboration can ultimately be scaled up to operationalize across Canada to support patients and families.

For more information, please contact Renu Jeyapala.