Online Program

282803
Relationship between provincial health spending and cervical cancer early diagnosis in Canada


Monday, November 4, 2013

Marwa Farag, PhD, School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Robert Buckingham, DrPH, School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Michael Szafron, PhD, School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Lesley James, MPH, University of Saskatchewan
The concern with healthcare expenditures growth in Canada and the rest of developed world has created an increasing need for research evidence to guide resource allocation decisions in the health sector. This paper examines one aspect of the effectiveness of primary health care spending at the provincial level in Canada and provides evidence that investing in primary health care does matter in improving the effectiveness of cervical cancer screening services. A province-level panel dataset 1992-2009 was constructed for the purpose of this study. Using random-effects regression models, we found that health spending per capita was associated with a significant increase in early diagnosis of cervical cancer at the province level controlling for important factors such as income, education, lifestyle factors and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases. This study indicates that provinces that spent more on health care performed better after controlling for potential confounders.

Learning Areas:

Administration, management, leadership
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate the effectiveness of health expenditures Compare the levels of spending across provinces in Canada

Keyword(s): Healthcare Costs, Cancer Screening

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan. I teach a course in Health Economics and I worked on this paper with my students using provincial level data.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.