Introducing Healthcare For Real: A New Era of Health Communication for Canadians

Canadians are experiencing a systemic change in how they receive and interact with health information. It’s having a real impact on our  understanding of the current health care crisis and how to improve access for the 6.5 million patients who don’t have access to primary care and the so many more impacted by lengthy wait times.

At the Canadian Medical Association, we recognize the critical role journalism plays in advancing health care understanding, debates and policy decisions. Through CMA Media, we’re contributing directly to the quality and quantity of health system news and information.

Our organization funds health care reporting through the Canadian Press. We’re building  understanding of the system with the help of Canada’s top doctors & the CMA Media Network, a group of trusted doctors who are active on social media. We’re pushing back on health misinformation by supporting and amplifying trusted sources.

We’re just getting started with our work to make things better.

The Canadian Medical Association is pleased to announce the start of a new initiative to improve the media environment for health and health system information called Healthcare For Real.

It’s the start of a journey to support Canadians, especially young people, with easy-to-understand context and conversation about the Canadian health care system via a new online information hub and video storytelling on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

We’re going back to basics with answers to Canadians’ most asked questions about the health system. Through videos and articles, we take complex topics and make them clear with expert help. We believe making sense of health care through context and conversation is a key step to finding solutions together.

Healthcare For Real is also designed to reach underserved audiences through new forms of storytelling and education, especially with video created specifically for social media viewing. We’re collaborating with and learning from other health communicators  to enrich the Canadian health information environment together.

CMA believes by serving Canadians in this way we’re filling an important gap in our  understanding of the health care system. It’s designed as a compliment to the journalists and expert sources already driving change.

We can’t solve big problems without shared context, curiosity and conversation. And without your help, all this hard work will stay hidden in a sea of internet content. Please follow, like, comment and share Healthcare For Real work with your friends and family. Tell us more about the questions you have about how Canadian health care works (or doesn’t!).

You can count on the CMA to keep working to help you make sense of health care to make it better for everyone.