CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne
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Comparative Study
Estimated effects of adding universal public coverage of an essential medicines list to existing public drug plans in Canada.
Canada's universal health care system does not include universal coverage of prescription drugs. We sought to estimate the effects of adding universal public coverage of an essential medicines list to existing public drug plans in Canada. ⋯ Our analysis showed that adding universal public coverage of essential medicines to the existing public drug plans in Canada could address most of Canadians' pharmaceutical needs and save billions of dollars annually. Doing so may be a pragmatic step forward while more comprehensive pharmacare reforms are planned.
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In prior studies, higher mortality was observed among patients who had elective surgery on a Friday rather than earlier in the week. We investigated whether mortality after elective surgery was associated with day of the week of surgery in a Canadian population and whether the association was influenced by surgeon experience and volume. ⋯ Although surgeon experience differed across days of the week, the risk of 30-day mortality after elective surgery was similar regardless of which day of the week the procedure took place.