Private providers added to ease COVID-strained public health system

Canada's most populous province, Ontario, plans to significantly expand its use of private providers to perform public health services, the premier said on Jan. 16, in a bid to deal with backlogs and delays in a health care system strained by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports. "The status quo is no longer acceptable. ... This is the best way to go to take the burden off the backs of the hospitals,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in announcing the planned expansion.