Appropriate care is defined as "the right care, provided by the right providers, to the right patient, in the right place, at the right time, resulting in optimal care." (Canadian Medical Association).
Many complex factors contribute to appropriate care. The Patient First Review, For Patients' Sake, indicated that some patients in Saskatchewan may not receive appropriate care:
- Patients may not receive care that they should have received: underuse of services.
- Patients may receive services that are unnecessary (overtreatment, unnecessary tests), increase costs and may even endanger their health: overuse of services.
- Patients may receive services or care that are not ideally suited to their condition and might even cause harm: misuse of services.
- Patients with the same health conditions may receive very different care, depending on where they live and the care provider they see: variation in services.
The Saskatchewan health system is committed to improving the Appropriateness of Care issues through the development and implementation of a provincial AC framework designed around the involvement of clinicians, health care providers, patients, families and the public in this effort to improve Appropriate Care.