Minister of Health Colin Hansen seems to be reverting to the type of reporting he previously criticized. A 44 page pdf document posted to his website, titled "Toward Better Health Care", talks about health care providers and their contracts, health records, telehealth and money - lots about money. What's missing is an assessment of outcomes, even though the table of contents claims that four pages in the report deal with "Innovation that leads to positive outcomes". That section is about health records and telehealth, but not about measuring health outcomes.

The Ministry's service plan is designed to specify measurable outcomes, but even it falls short. It does a good job setting performance measures for infant mortality and life expectancy for Status Indians, but most of its other performance measures relate to controlling inputs rather than measuring the health of those who use the system.

Reporting in the Ministry of Health wasn't always this bad. Going back to the 1999-2000 annual report, you can see data used to measure overall health - life expectancy, infant mortality, incidence of HIV, and smoking rates. That report had room for improvement, but the change in reporting in recent years has been in the wrong direction.

If the purpose of the latest publication is to apologize to health care providers for three years of conflict, the report fails. The report says: "The health care system is only as strong as the health care providers who work within it." It goes on to say: "As we move towards more integrated team-oriented health care services, a broader array of providers and practitioners will be needed. How these health care workers are prepared, organized, deployed and paid will directly influence their ability to provide quality care within our changing health care system." That is as true now and for the future, as it was for the past three years. Stating the obvious only draws attention to the broken contracts and blame of the past three years. Why would anyone believe that a Campbell government would behave differently if it wins a second term?