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Doctors across the country must learn how to do their jobs more efficiently and Canadians need to stop fearing the debate over public and private health care, Canadian Medical Association president Anne Doig said Wednesday in Toronto.

Despite the billions of dollars poured into the taxpayer-funded health-care system each year, patients often wait weeks for the most routine appointments, there is a massive shortage of health professionals, and outdated systems mean valuable time is wasted dealing with inefficient paper records, Dr. Doig told the Economic Club of Canada in one of her first major speeches since being named CMA president this summer.

In short, the system has deep-seated problems and it's time for doctors – as well as patients – to embrace new ideas and creative solutions, said Dr. Doig, who also laid out her views in an editorial board meeting at The Globe and Mail.

“Notwithstanding that we all love to boast about our Canadian health-care system, in fact it's got some fairly significant cracks and flaws and we can do better,” Dr. Doig told the editorial board. “Other countries are doing better. Why are we not doing better?”

One of the most fundamental problems, Dr. Doig said, is that current funding is unlikely to keep pace with rising health expenditures in Canada. Addressing that issue means a debate over what should be paid for under Canada's universal health-care system, she said. It's the kind of debate that immediately raises fears over privatized health care, but people who make that connection are missing the point, Dr. Doig said.

In fact, many Canadians already pay out of pocket for a significant portion of health-care expenses, such as physiotherapy and prescription drugs, and that amount has only risen in the past few decades.

Now is the time to reconsider what is included in health insurance, who gets covered and how those plans are funded, Dr. Doig said.

“We have to be unafraid to open the lid on that debate and let people talk about it openly and honestly without making them feel as though even if we talk about it, somebody's going to take away medicare, because that's not going to happen,” Dr. Doig said. “Nobody wants to take away medicare.”

The Saskatchewan-based family physician has emphasized the need for better focus on patients and improving quality of care since taking the helm of the national organization representing physicians, residents and medical students.

Now, she's issuing a challenge to doctors and health organizations, as well as politicians, to help make that goal happen. Some key ideas Dr. Doig will push this year include:

The development of a patient charter that details how to deliver high-quality care to people across the country and what patients should expect from the health care system.

A new debate over health insurance and what should be covered by the government.

A discussion of new, creative ways to deliver care, such as using nurse practitioners to help physicians manage time or by providing funding incentives for hospitals that can deliver non-urgent services, such as MRIs, within a short period.

The development and implementation of electronic health records across the country.

The move toward e-health records is proving to be one of the biggest roadblocks standing in the way of better patient care, Dr. Doig said. In her speech, she criticized federal politicians for making patient health a partisan issue and urged the government to deliver the $500-million it has promised to help develop the systems and technology needed to implement e-health records across the country.

Canada has been developing an e-health records system for years, but the process has been caught up in delays, most recently a spending scandal at eHealth Ontario. But Dr. Doig said some health professionals are also hesitant to adopt electronic records.

Canada Health Infoway, a non-profit organization that promotes the development of electronic health records, has set 2016 as the goal for full implementation across the country. But Dr. Doig wants to push that deadline up and get electronic health records rolled out to the front lines of health care as soon as possible.