By Peter A. Singer and Joseph Mapa Financial pressures have forced your organization to undergo one more round of cost-cutting.
Resource allocation involves the distribution of resources among competing programs or people.
Although usually thought of only in the context of declining resources, resource allocation occurs when total resources are declining, stable or increasing. We hope that as the economic condition of Canada improves, the challenges will move from the former to the latter type. First, governments decide how much to spend on health, and how to spend these resources. Second, governments may receive advice, such as on cardiac care from the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario, or they may delegate management of certain aspects of the system, such as parts of cancer care to Cancer Care Ontario. Third, in provinces with decentralized systems, regional health authorities make their allocation decisions.