Good afternoon. I'd like to thank the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance for this opportunity to bring to you recommendations from the Canadian Nurses Association, the national professional association for nurses and nurse practitioners, representing 139,000 individuals across the country.
As nurses, we see first hand how Canadians can be better supported by more accessible, community-based care approaches and a shift from current policies and funding models that drive acute, episodic, and hospital-based care. New models for more integrated community-based care would emphasize health promotion, chronic-disease prevention and management, client-centred accessible care, and the use of a range of technologies.
Our official submission to the 2016 federal budget highlights three recommendations for your consideration.
First, deliver federal health dollars through a needs-based top-up in addition to the CHT to each province and territory based on demographics and population health priorities. This new formula would take into account the concerns that several provinces and territories have raised about the demographic differences and unique requirements of their respective populations, especially those living in rural and remote areas.
Furthermore, to increase transparency for taxpayer dollars, we recommend that every bilateral agreement must include a robust accountability framework. Such a framework would take into consideration the relationship between federal funding and the measurable outcomes that need to be achieved for the benefit of Canadians, include reporting on a comprehensive set of indicators and outcome measures derived from existing national data sources, and provide outcome measures calculated using publicly accessible data to report on federal heath funding and the associated measurable health and social outcomes that we seek to achieve for all Canadians.
Our second recommendation is to improve access to equitable, national, publicly funded home and community-based care that includes telehealth, mental health, and palliative care. We applaud the federal government's commitment of $3 billion over four years for home care. This funding will encourage a shift toward client-centred, cost-effective care that supports patients and caregivers and promotes the health and well-being of Canadians. CNA will work with the federal government and stakeholders to support policy development, implementation, and scaling up of existing and new and promising models for community-based care.
Our final recommendation is to invest in early, secondary, and post-secondary education for indigenous students and in professional development for health care providers who serve Canada's rural and remote communities. We are ready to work with the federal government in acting to implement recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and strongly support the government's commitment to make significant new investments in indigenous education, improve essential physical infrastructure for indigenous communities, and create jobs for indigenous peoples.
This can be achieved by providing a four-year annual investment of $100 million to improve infrastructure in rural and remote communities, specifically in the form of construction of educational facilities and satellite learning centres and expanded broadband to promote distance education.
We also encourage a four-year annual investment of $25 million for initiatives to create more locally accessible infrastructure and learning opportunities for students enrolled in health care training programs and health care professionals already serving in rural and remote communities. Access to high-quality post-secondary health care education and professional development programs for health providers has been shown to lead to a more stable and skilled health care workforce to serve rural and remote communities.
Thank you very much for your attention.