Healthcare Consulting

Since 1983, Med-Emerg has developed a thorough understanding of the business issues in Canadian healthcare. Med-Emerg has extensive experience at assembling teams of subject matter experts for the purposes of reviewing health services systems. The Company’s ability to draw on leading academics and practicing professionals has established it as a credible domestic and international health care consultant.

At the request of the Malaysian Ministry of Health, and financially supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Med-Emerg was retained to assist in the planning of the development of a comprehensive Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system for Malaysia. Following the success of the study in Malaysia, Med-Emerg was invited by the State of Kerala, India, to perform a similar study, again supported by CIDA. Med-Emerg has secured EMS review and design contracts in locations such as Saipan in the Western Pacific, the Cayman Islands, and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Med-Emerg’s domestic consulting has focused mainly on strategic planning for the development of integrated health care delivery models in various practice settings. Med-Emerg was retained by the Government of the Northwest Territories to develop a draft strategic plan for the integrated delivery of health and social services following division in 1999. The draft plan became the focus of an extensive public consultation process across the Northwest Territories, and initiated a transformation to the regional health authority system of health services governance.

Saskatchewan Health retained Med-Emerg to facilitate the development of interdisciplinary primary health care teams in Regional Health Authorities. Successful results from the pilot project expanded the initiative to the remaining Health Authorities across the province. The goal of the project is to provide process facilitation and training programs required for the development and implementation of a “Team Based Culture” within the Saskatchewan Regional Health Authorities. The resulting interdisciplinary provider teams are anticipated to improve the quality of primary health services within Saskatchewan.

The company is currently the lead evaluators of the primary health care reform initiatives in Newfoundland and Labrador. A key element in this evaluation is assessing the effectiveness of interdisciplinary teams in improving access to and satisfaction with primary health care. The approach utilized by Med-Emerg is that of program logic modeling and capacity building. The project in Newfoundland and Labrador will soon be expanded to do a thorough evaluation on the effects of the primary care renewal on health service provider’s scopes of practice. This will be facilitated through the use of a number of Scope of Practice measurement tools as well as participant interviews.

Another of our current contracts is with the Atlantic Health Human Resources Association (AHHRA). AHHRA retained Med-Emerg to undertake a Health Education Training Planning Study for the entire region of Atlantic Canada. This study is designed to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the supply of and demand for 30 health occupations in Atlantic Canada and to provide recommendations for ongoing health human resource planning and management. The overall goal of this study is to lay the groundwork for the development of a health human resources plan that will enable Atlantic Canada to achieve and maintain an optimal and stable health workforce that is responsive to changing health needs of the population. The profile of health professionals in Atlantic Canada will serve to inform policy direction and decisions, for both the educational system and employers within the health sector.

In 2005, Med-Emerg began work on the Canadian Nurse Practitioner Initiative (CNPI) sponsored by the Canadian Nurses Association. The overall goal of this study is to develop a framework for Nurse Practitioner health human resource planning which is responsive to the changing health needs of the population. This will serve to inform policy directions and decisions across the country.