Keeping Emergency Departments Open: Cross-Provincial Solutions for Canada
Overview
Since 2019, roughly a third of Canadian emergency departments have experienced at least one closure, amounting to more than 1.14 million lost operating hours. Governments, health authorities and service provider organizations are making real progress on these pressures, although proven models rarely spread beyond the jurisdiction where they began.
This paper follows the patient journey through the emergency department, from the gaps in primary care that push patients toward it to the bottlenecks that slow care inside and the blockages that keep admitted patients from leaving. It then spotlights six innovations from across Canada, each matched to the pressure point it addresses.
Case Studies in the Paper
- Community pharmacy primary care clinics in Nova Scotia
- Physician assistant integration in New Brunswick
- Virtual emergency rooms in Newfoundland and Labrador
- An AI-enabled online queuing system in Ontario
- Hospital at Home in British Columbia
- Community paramedicine for long-term care in Ontario
Our aim is to connect the people working on these problems and support the spread of models that have already shown results.