Finally, as physicians are compensated on the same level of salary, fewer people may be attracted to the profession for its financial rewards. In a public system, patients shop around less for providers because most providers charge the same fees. Within a public system there is less 'siphoning' of middle-income people to higher-cost physicians with short waiting lists. Visit: http://www.csc-surgery.com/contact.php.Whatexactly is this hospital? What would your policy response be?

According to its website, the Cambie Surgery Centre is a private healthcare clinic. The site notes that the "BC provincial government looks to private health care facilities like the Cambie Surgery Centre to help ease the long public wait lists." The hospital is a paying hospital that uses sophisticated technology to perform its services. Although it is unfair that cost can determine quality of care on one hand, on the other hand at least Canadian citizens, unlike their U.S. counterparts, have some access to medical care, regardless of their ability to pay at public facilities, and the center relieves some of the pressures inherent to the system. Ideally, the policy response should be to allow the clinic to continue, perhaps providing some financial incentives for the clinic to do some charity work to patients who cannot pay.

Emergency room waits are just inevitable." Evaluate.

The statement that "Emergency room waits are just inevitable" is not accurate in the sense that the length of all ER waiting times is justified. Bureaucracy and inefficiency, understaffed facilities, etcetera, can all increase wait time needlessly. In nations with private insurance systems, some uninsured patients may use the ER as their primary care facility, increasing overall wait time.

All ERs, regardless of the system, must deal with a wide range of problems, some of which they may not...

Thus ER rooms have the added administrative burden of coping with unforeseen, non-routine treatments that can increase wait time. ERs can predict 'traffic' patterns and needs based upon past use -- for example, weekends, when regular doctors are away might have higher percentages of patient traffic, New Year's Eve might have more patients with alcohol-related issues -- but there is no way these patterns can be 'perfectly' managed and predicted.
Find and explain at least two hospital costs that could each be a fixed or a variable cost depending on whose costs they are.

Employee salaries and benefits are usually classified as fixed costs, given that these fees must be paid regularly, but specialists called in as consultants as needed would be a variable cost. Supplies are likely to be variable costs, as the need for supplies varies over time. But some supplies may be fixed costs, if they are used by particular units on a fairly regular basis (like cleaning products, for example).

Works Cited

Cambie Surgery Centre." Official website. 7 Apr 2008. http://www.csc-surgery.com/contact.php

Economies of scale." Investopedia. 7 Apr 2008. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economiesofscale.asp

Economies of scope." Investopedia. 7 Apr 2008. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economiesofscope.asp

Green, David G., Ben Irvine & Ben Cackett. "Health care in Germany." 2005.

Civitas.org. 7 Apr 2008. http://www.civitas.org.uk/pubs/bb3Germany.php

Schippers, Edith. "Towards a sound system of medical insurance: Consumer driven healthcare reform in the Netherlands: The relaxation of supply-side restrictions and greater role of market forces." 2002. Civitas.org. 7 Apr 2008. http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/dutch.pdf