Canada's Health Productivity Gap: A Hidden Barrier to Economic Growth
A new analysis by Deloitte Canada reveals that poor health and caregiving is costing Canada's economy over $100 billion in economic output annually. The report, which uses a Health Productivity Gap (HPG) framework, found that reducing these barriers to workforce participation by just 25% could unlock more than $25 billion in annual gains.
The analysis also highlights the significant impact of health-related issues on Canada's productivity performance. According to Deloitte, Canada has lagged behind other advanced economies for over a decade, while health outcomes have deteriorated and workforce pressures related to chronic disease, mental health challenges, and caregiving responsibilities continue to grow.
Deloitte's HPG framework identifies two major opportunities to improve outcomes: the prevention gap, reflecting capacity lost to preventable illness, and the participation gap, reflecting capacity constrained by chronic disease, mental health challenges, and caregiving responsibilities. The report outlines seven key integrated actions that governments, healthcare organizations, employers, and other stakeholders can pursue to help close these gaps.
These actions include enrolling every Canadian in a Health Home (integration of primary care and prevention), making prevention proactive and personalized, removing barriers to participation, giving individuals financial tools for prevention, creating capacity from what already exists, meaningfully digitizing health infrastructure, and redesigning financing and incentives.