Edward Xie
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edwardxie.bsky.social
Edward Xie
@edwardxie.bsky.social
4.2K followers 740 following 150 posts
Working as an ER physician, U Toronto faculty, and PhD candidate. Interests in access to medicines, wellbeing societies, planetary health, and climate justice
climatehealth.utoronto.ca/fellow-profile/xie-edward
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edwardxie.bsky.social
Mixed feelings about the heat today: having dinner outside with insect repellant and worried about next summer

@cape-acme.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 10:44 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
New research on private equity ownership of US hospitals:

"Medicare beneficiaries experienced 7.0 additional ED deaths per 10 000 ED visits after private equity acquisition, a 13.4% increase ..."

Canadian perspective @cdndrsformedicare.bsky.social: www.canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca/canadian_doc...
A plot from a research study on patient outcomes and spending in hospitals after private equity acquisition in the United States: "private equity hospitals experienced a differential increase of 7.0 deaths (CI, 1.8 to 12.3 deaths; P = 0.009) per 10 000 visits, or a 13.4% increase in ED mortality from the private equity hospitals’ preacquisition baseline"
September 30, 2025 at 2:27 AM
edwardxie.bsky.social
Recall that Bill 33 is being proposed on a background of decades of budget cuts to higher education. Ontario ranks among the lowest in funding of post-secondary education in Canada.

fao-on.org/wp-content/u...
September 11, 2025 at 3:44 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
Press release from @cdndrsformedicare.bsky.social today: "Canadian Doctors for Medicare Urges Minister Michel and Prime Minister Carney to continue Pharmacare negotiations with the provinces"

www.canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca/canadian_doc... #cdnhealth #cdnpoli
Canadian Doctors for Medicare Urges Minister Michel and Prime Minister Carney to continue Pharmacare negotiations with the provinces Canadian Doctors for Medicare Urges Minister Michel and Prime Minister Carney to continue Pharmacare negotiations with the provinces Toronto, August 13, 2025 – Canadian Doctors for Medicare is very concerned that federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel and Prime Minister Carney have not committed to continuing Pharmacare negotiations with provinces and territories. The previous Liberal government passed the Pharmacare Act in October 2024, which enabled provinces and territories to engage in bilateral agreements with the federal government to provide full public coverage for diabetes and contraceptive medications. The Trudeau government signed agreements with British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and Yukon since the passage of the Pharmacare Act. Despite voicing a strong commitment to Pharmacare during the 2025 federal election, Prime Minister Carney has since refrained from agreeing to continue negotiations and expand medication coverage to other provinces and territories.
August 14, 2025 at 3:42 AM
edwardxie.bsky.social
What if 2025 isn't just one of the hottest years ever,
but also the coolest year for the rest of our lives?

Join @cdndrsformedicare.bsky.social tomorrow (Aug 5) at 7pm ET for a chat about #heatwaves and what we can do to achieve a healthier future: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

#cdnhealth
Outlook for August 2025 temperature patterns in Canada posted by Environment Canada showing that most of Canada will be above average temperatures.
August 4, 2025 at 7:22 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
What a great day to get these!

Thanks @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social

#bikeTO
An image of socks that say “justice for cyclists”
July 31, 2025 at 7:08 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
With most of Canada under heat 🚨 warnings this week, I'll be hosting a conversation on #heatwaves and #health with @drmelissalem.bsky.social & @monikadutt.bsky.social

Join us August 5 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Thanks @cdndrsformedicare.bsky.social & @cape-acme.bsky.social
Webinar on Heatwaves: protecting health in a climate crisis Canada is heating up twice as fast as the global average. Extreme heat is putting increasing strain on our health and health systems. Join us on August 5 at 7 pm ET to learn about ways to cope with heat and how better Medicare could save lives. To register for the webinar follow the link We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Melissa Lem and Dr. Monika Dutt to the panel, with Dr. Edward Xie moderating the discussion. We look forward to seeing you there!
July 31, 2025 at 1:43 AM
edwardxie.bsky.social
We need a strong, sustainable and *public* health care system. I signed this letter with 275 economists & policy experts in Canada.

#Medicare is "a pillar of Canada’s economy, an engine of innovation, and a critical source of decent employment"

@cfnu.bsky.social @steveubc.bsky.social #cdnpoli #G7
Quote from the letter: " Open letter from economists, health policy experts, and experts in related disciplines Canadians are rightly proud of our “medicare” system. The ideal of universal access to high quality health care on the basis of need, not ability to pay, is a defining national value. Canadians understand this value and overwhelmingly support it. Less understood, however, are the economic benefits that Canada enjoys as a result of universal public health care. Given global economic uncertainties and trade pressures, particularly arising from the U.S., it is more important than ever to understand the economic value of sound public health care policies in Canada. medicare is not just a cost item on government budgets. It is also a pillar of Canada’s economy, an engine of innovation, and a critical source of decent employment. Those economic benefits, of course, are complementary to the fundamental goal: improving the health of Canadians."
June 17, 2025 at 3:56 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
New data on surgical wait times in Canada released today. The good news is that capacity has increased for most priority procedures ... but some average wait times are getting longer in our predominantly market approach to surgical referrals.

via CIHI #cdnhealth #cdnpoli www.cihi.ca/en/wait-time...
infographic from CIHI: "In 2024, 26% more hip replacement surgeries were performed in Canada than in 2019. Despite the increase, only 68% of patients received the procedure within the recommended 6 months. A similar pattern was observed for knee replacements."
June 13, 2025 at 3:13 AM
edwardxie.bsky.social
It's easy to take public credit for climate commitments and then quietly break promises later.

Climate Backtracker is a new Canadian resource for monitoring and accountability from IECS at U of Toronto: climatebacktracker.ca

#cdnpoli #climateaction
June 5, 2025 at 12:45 AM
edwardxie.bsky.social
I'll be presenting some early findings from our review of financial protection for health in high-income countries at @cahspr.bsky.social.

Bottom line: asking patients to pay is a barrier to care that cuts across many determinants of #health. Would love feedback on useful ways to present the data.
Preliminary results from our scoping review include a diversity of determinants of financial protection in high-income countries, a limited conceptualization of 'equity' in the literature, and distributions of financial protection that generally favour more advantaged groups. Prior to our study, there was limited systematic knowledge about the equity of financial protection in high-income settings. We aimed to synthesize evidence on the distribution of financial protection in high-income countries and how equity is characterized. We are conducting a scoping review following Colquhoun et al (2014) and the PRISMA-ScR checklist. We searched academic databases (Embase, MEDLINE, IBSS, EconLit) and grey literature sources (WHO, OECD, World Bank) for four main outcomes: variables used to characterize equity, financial protection indicators, measured distribution of financial protection, and value judgements regarding equity. Our complete protocol can be viewed in BMJ Open: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-081029. We selected 76 records from 4162 search results and present preliminary findings from 48 extracted records. The variables most commonly used to disaggregate financial protection were income or consumption, age, sex or gender, and health status. Financial protection indicators included diverse variants of out-of-pocket spending and measures of unmet needs. Inequality favouring advantaged groups was found for most variables in nearly all settings. Fewer than half of studies explicitly invoked a framework, set of principles, or value judgements to conceptualize equity. No theories of social justice were mentioned. Emergent themes include challenges with delineating health needs and necessary services as well as inconsistent, implicit or absent accounts of equity. Our review advances knowledge about health system equity and financial protection. Conclusions will be formulated after data extraction is complete.
May 26, 2025 at 4:30 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
carsized.com is a great website for seeing how large vehicles are more dangerous to other people that are walking and cycling (or driving): higher risk of injuries to important body parts and being thrown or run over.

www.carsized.com/en/
Image comparing the relative sizes of a popular compact car and a popular SUV. The SUV has a taller and blunter front, which is associated with higher risk of injury and death in collisions.
May 13, 2025 at 5:31 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
Illegal patient fees are either

1. Charges for publicly-insured services (should be free at point of care)

2. Fees that put publicly-insured care behind a paywall, for example, getting a colonoscopy only after paying dollars for an unnecessary dietician consult

2/4 www.canada.ca/en/health-ca...
May 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
A #WealthTax could be used to boost housing, infrastructure, democratic quality, environment and health.

In the latest @bmj.com, @profkepickett.bsky.social calls attention to the opportunity for "public health wins" from investing wealth tax revenues.

www.bmj.com/content/389/... #cdnpoli
A quote from an article in the British Medical Journal by Kate Pickett and David Taylor-Robinson: "However we might, as a society, choose to direct those billions to improve the health of the population, there is no doubt that they could be put to good use and offer public health wins. The first potential health promoting wins could come from reductions in poverty and inequality. Among developed countries, higher income inequality is related to worse health, lower social cohesion, and environmental problems."
April 21, 2025 at 2:56 AM
edwardxie.bsky.social
Call for abstracts open until May 30 ⏰

Climate, Health & Sustainable Care Symposium in Toronto. Lots of priority themes: commercial determinants, mental health, risks / benefits of AI, education, #planetaryhealth, health equity etc.

climatehealth.utoronto.ca/events/sympo... @uoft.bsky.social
Collaborative Centre 2025 Annual Symposium - call for abstracts now open! We are currently seeking submissions for oral and poster presentations on a variety of topics related to climate change and health, sustainability, planetary health, one health, and political economy of health, and other related topics. We particularly welcome submissions on the prioritized themes outlined on our website. Please submit your abstract here by May 30, 2025.
April 10, 2025 at 2:59 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
New report on medication spending in Canada shows a 14.1% year-on-year increase in overall costs between 2022 and 2023.

Which drug drove up private plan costs the most?

semaglutide aka Ozempic

www.canada.ca/en/patented-... #cdnhealth
a table from a government report showing the top selling medications in Canada for private drug plans in 2023. Number 1 is Ozempic
March 31, 2025 at 2:35 AM
edwardxie.bsky.social
#PrivateEquity is buying up #healthcare in Canada.
What is it?
What has the US experience been? hint: alarming

I’ll ask @armineyalnizyan.bsky.social, Matt Tracey & Henry Annan at @cdndrsformedicare.bsky.social Health Summit on March 8 👉 www.canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca/cdm_health_s... #cdnhealth
Panel topic is “The threat of private equity"
February 21, 2025 at 1:42 AM
edwardxie.bsky.social
Looking forward to this tomorrow.
Can't think of a more urgent conversation about what we can do when the world is this overwhelming.

climatejustice.ubc.ca/events/event...

@canrac.bsky.social & @ccj-ubc.bsky.social #climatesky #cdnpoli #migrantjustice
CAN-Rac and the UBC Centre for Climate Justice are hosting a webinar this Wednesday, Feb 12th at 7 pm EST. Link in the post takes you to registration. Beyond the Shock Doctrine: Conversation on Tariffs, Climate and Solidarity Climate crisis. Eroding social safety net. Colonialism. The rise of xenophobia and the far right. Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, US broligarchs unleashed the threat of tariffs on the Canadian economy, leading to economic anxiety and corporate profiteering. Corporate-aligned governments of all stripes are profiting off this moment to promote further resource extraction, deregulation and deportations. What does a people-first response to this moment look like, and how can it cut through all the noise? Hosted by Climate Action Network Canada and the UBC Centre for Climate Justice, this conversation will feature Naomi Klein, Co-Director of the Centre for Climate Justice, Syed Hussan, Executive Director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, and Lubicon Cree advocate Melina Laboucan-Massimo, founder and Executive Director of Sacred Earth Solar.
February 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
With political chaos and an election on the horizon, @cdndrsformedicare.bsky.social will be holding its 1st Health Summit to talk about private for-profit care and pathways to Better Medicare for all.

Info 👉 www.canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca/cdm_health_s... @canadahealthwatch.bsky.social #cdnhealth
Canadian Doctors for Medicare health summit will be on March 8, 2025
January 31, 2025 at 4:04 AM
edwardxie.bsky.social
12. Global bodies that produce strategic guidance and facilitate decarbonization should seriously consider the benefits of 'contribution' approaches to address shortcomings of Net Zero

@diarmidcl.bsky.social @gchalliance.bsky.social @sciencebasedtargets.org sciencebasedtargets.org/beyond-value...
Quote from a report by the Science Based Targets Initiative: "climate contribution claims are those which convey to audiences that the organization has provided support or finance to actions beyond the company’s value chain (including through collective action) with an expected climate mitigation outcome (where the actions are relevant to the expected performance outcome). Unlike compensation claims, the contribution claim does not imply that the BVCM outcomes are netting out or counterbalancing the claimants’ remaining value chain emissions, but instead are communicated as a contribution to global climate mitigation efforts or even the efforts of a country."
January 16, 2025 at 3:52 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
7. Second, #NetZero commitments often fail to produce real emissions reductions / carbon removals because of errors or deception. These have been widely documented and we summarized a few examples.

gh.bmj.com/content/8/Su...
Even if sufficiently ambitious, Net Zero pledges may still suffer from ‘accounting failures’—gaps between commitments and real-world impacts. Several modes of accounting failure are described in the table shown in the image including non-additionality, impermanence, double counting and leakage.
January 16, 2025 at 3:32 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
If the new Canada Health Act directive "lacked adequate input from stakeholders" it's from the stakeholders who can't afford lobbyists - unlike Maple.

let's not confuse who benefits most from for-profit, walk-in virtual care
January 13, 2025 at 9:39 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
For an excellent breakdown of virtual primary care and how it's paid for in Canada, check out this article by Sheryl Spithoff, Ewan Affleck and @lindsayhedden.bsky.social

www.cfp.ca/content/70/1... #cdnhealth
a typology of virtual primary care in Canada
January 13, 2025 at 7:18 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
“Today’s announcement is lukewarm for patients, but a win for the insurance industry and for-profit virtual care corporations” - @bernardho.bsky.social

@cdndrsformedicare.bsky.social press release with Drs. Melanie Bechard and @danyaalraza.com

www.canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca/canadian_doc...
January 10, 2025 at 4:44 PM
edwardxie.bsky.social
The use and promotion of Virtual Care is surging.

Not including virtual care in the Medicare basket allows companies providing walk-in style services to continue charging Canadians for medically necessary care, turning a profit on fees, and fragmenting high quality primary care.

🧵
January 10, 2025 at 4:14 PM