Medical innovation leader and former politician Frank Baylis says Canada’s health care system could be an economic driver
Provincial, territorial and local governments in Canada consistently spend the largest portion of their budgets on health care. For most Canadians, this isn’t surprising. We’ve all felt the pinch of health care costs — in our doctors' offices, emergency waiting rooms or on waitlists.
As Executive Chairman of Baylis Medical Technologies, a health innovation investor and former politician, Frank Baylis (BASc ’86) is deeply familiar with the issues in our health care system — but he still believes in it.
“By virtue of what we do [at Baylis Medical Technologies], I’ve interacted with many health care systems around the world, including Europe, Japan, the United States. No country has the perfect system, but I believe sincerely that we in Canada can have the best health care system in the world. While we need to adapt it, change it, evolve it, I believe in the system fundamentally.”
Baylis points to a mindset shift that can help Canada achieve this goal. Instead of viewing our health care system as a cost, we need to view it as an economic driver.
He laid out these thoughts at an exclusive event for the University of Waterloo community in Toronto. The event featured a fireside chat with Vivek Goel, President and Vice-Chancellor of Waterloo. Together, they discussed how innovation could improve Canada’s health care system in the future and the obstacles standing in our way.
A major barrier to this shift is data. Across provinces and institutions, health data remains siloed, making it difficult to evaluate what works, scale successful solutions or adopt emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.
“I took it upon myself to have a number of conversations,” Baylis explained. “I went across the country back and forth, talking to leaders in health care, and found that everybody gets it. We need to pull our health data together.”
Implementing a pan-Canadian health data strategy could solve issues for patients and health care providers by smoothing the process of information sharing and referrals. It could also improve regulatory practices and create new opportunities for preventative care, research and economic growth.
Baylis considers our health data a powerful resource. With a universal health care system and a highly diverse population, the country holds a rich body of health information. With the right strategy, our data could attract research investment, clinical trials and global partnerships.
“If we had this data today, pharmaceutical companies would want to come here to run clinical trials. We would have access to the first and best medicines because they would say we can test with these different groups and collect the data.”
Our homegrown medical innovations would benefit too, making way for economic growth.
As a health care advocate, Baylis wants Canadian leaders to focus on productivity when making health care decisions. It’s a natural approach for other countries, like the United States, because their health care systems are set up as businesses.
If you’re a medical technology entrepreneur in Canada, it’s often easier to secure customers within a system that looks to increase productivity and business opportunities. Baylis points to the importance of first in man — the initial phase of clinical trials where a new drug, device or procedure is administered to a human subject for the first time. This is a critical point in medical innovations, but it can be very difficult to achieve within the Canadian health care system.
“Inevitably, a product can be developed in Canada with Canadian medical doctors and expertise, but we can’t do first-in-human trials here. We can’t wait around for the hospital to get on with the procedure. We can’t wait around for Health Canada’s approval. But we can get it approved in the States, so we do first-in-human trials there, or in other countries that are open to innovation.”
It’s a frustration that Baylis has seen many times in his career. His current work is focused on improving our health care system, but he knows the effects extend to our country’s resilience and sovereignty. Building and adopting health innovation domestically will provide better patient care and economic strength.
“All of this is in front of us,” Baylis said. “It’s a question of whether we decide to use what we already have.”
