Introduction

On 9 February 2012, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health (Committee) agreed to study innovation in health care, adopting the following motion:

That the Committee undertake a study of technological innovation, including best practices, in health care in Canada; that it hold ten (10) meetings on this study to hear from witnesses; and that it report its findings to the House of Commons.[1]

According to the Conference Board of Canada, “technological innovation in health can be defined as the transformation of scientific and engineering creations into new medical devices, drugs and biologics, health-care information technologies, and medical and surgical procedures, all of which bring social and economic value.”[2] The Committee agreed to focus on technological innovations in health care in the following areas: e‑health, telehealth and telerobotics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, genomics, nanotechnology, and the treatment and management of chronic and rare diseases. The Committee was also interested in studying the costs associated with the adoption of technological innovations in health care systems, as well as the challenges associated with the commercialization of these products. The Committee also wanted to learn about the federal government’s role in promoting technological innovation in health care, as well as the initiatives that it was currently undertaking in this area. During the course of its study, the Committee also received testimony from witnesses about other types of innovation occurring in health care, including organizational innovation in health care delivery, which refers to transformed or improved production and delivery processes that were occurring inside health care systems and health care organizations[3], as well as innovations in the training of health care professionals and health human resource planning.

In order to examine these subjects in depth, the Committee agreed to extend its study, holding a total of 27 meetings ending in May 2013. In addition, the Committee held one meeting on diabetes and subsequently agreed on 6 December 2012 that the testimony from this hearing would also be taken into consideration as part of the Committee’s study.[4] During the course of these meetings, the Committee heard from a broad range of witnesses, including: federal and provincial government officials; researchers and academics; health care providers and delivery organizations; representatives from industry; and other interested stakeholders.

Based upon the testimony received during these meetings, this report highlights innovations in health care occurring across the country, and identifies areas where the federal government could take further action to promote health care innovation in Canada. The report is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on technological innovation in health care and consists of seven chapters, which reflect the main themes of the Committee’s study. The first chapter provides an overview of the federal government’s role and initiatives in the promotion of technological innovation in health care. The second chapter focuses on technological innovations in e-health, telehealth and telerobotics. The third chapter highlights innovations in pharmaceuticals and medical devices, including developments in genomics and nanotechnology, which are regulated as either drugs or medical devices depending upon their application. The fourth and fifth chapters focus more specifically on technological innovations occurring in the treatment and management of rare diseases and the prevention, and management of chronic diseases respectively. The sixth chapter examines how to manage the costs associated with the adoption of technological innovations in health care systems across Canada. The seventh chapter looks at how technological innovation in health care could be promoted in Canada, focusing on the innovation continuum from research and development to commercialization. The second part of the report summarizes testimony that the Committee received on other types of innovations occurring across the country in health care delivery, the training of health care professionals and the management of health human resources.