OTTAWA, May 13 /CNW/ - The Conference Board of Canada today launched the Canadian Alliance for Sustainable Health Care (CASHC), a five-year, multi-million dollar initiative that seeks to improve the Canadian health system as a whole - as well as health-care practices within firms and organizations.

"The sustainability of the health-care system is a priority for Canadian governments and for many organizations in both the private and public sectors," said Anne Golden, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Conference Board of Canada. "Most Canadians understand that our public health-care system is facing severe fiscal challenges, and that reform is needed so that it will be effective, efficient, fair and sustainable going forward."

The work of CASHC will help Canadians to better understand the conditions for a sustainable health-care system, which includes dimensions of:

• Financial sustainability: current and future health-care spending, fiscal balances, and public and private investment and expenditures.
• Firm-level performance: the relationship among health-related costs, workforce health and firm performance.
• Institutional factors: ways in which the health-care system can be improved, while addressing quality of care.

The Conference Board of Canada is uniquely positioned to support CASHC. In addition to conducting quantitative analysis of Canadian health and the health-care system, the Conference Board also has established expertise in health policy, governance, and organizational excellence. And the Conference Board has the capacity to facilitate dialogue among leaders in different sectors on implications and policy options.

"Health care reform in Canada needs champions from business, as well as from non-profit and public sectors. Helping to find solutions to Canada's health-care challenges is a priority for Deloitte, and we are proud to partner with The Conference Board of Canada on this comprehensive program of research and dialogue," said Alan MacGibbon, Managing Partner and Chief Executive, Deloitte.

A number of public and private sector organizations are already supporting CASHC, including:

Champion Investors: Deloitte; Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Lead Investors: Sun Life Financial.

Partners: CML Healthcare Inc.; The Cooperators Group Limited; IBM Canada Ltd.; Loblaw Companies Limited; Mercer (Canada) Limited; Scotiabank; TD Financial Group; Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario.

Participants: Canadian Association for Retired Persons; Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D); The Credit Valley Hospital & Trillium Health Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children.

Scholar-in-Residence Sponsor: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

To launch this five-year initiative, the Conference Board will assess the fiscal sustainability of the publicly-funded health-care system nationally, and by province and territory. Subsequent research will include detailed analysis of financial pressures and reform options in the health-care system—identifying implications and enabling discussion of policy options.

Anne Golden and Glen Hodgson, Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist, The Conference Board of Canada, are available to respond to media inquiries about CASHC today (May 13) after 2 p.m. at the Deloitte office in Toronto (30 Wellington St. W). Upon arrival, media should ask to be directed to the Edmonton Room.

For further information:
Brent Dowdall, Media Relations, Tel.: 613- 526-3090 ext.  448
E-mail: corpcomm@conferenceboard.ca