Ranked Performance of Canada's Health System on the International Stage: A Scoping Review

INTRODUCTION: Since the release of the World Health Report in 2000, health system performance ranking studies have garnered significant health policy attention. However, this literature has produced variable results. The objective of this study was to synthesize the research and analyze the ranked performance of Canada's health system on the international stage. METHOD: We conducted a scoping review exploring Canada's place in ranked health system performance among its peer Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage scoping review framework was adopted, yielding 48 academic and grey literature articles. A literature extraction tool was developed to gather information on themes that emerged from the literature. SYNTHESIS: Although various methodologies were used to rank health system performance internationally, results generally suggested that Canada has been a middle-of-the-pack performer in overall health system performance for the last 15 years. Canada's overall rankings were 7/191, 11/24, 10/11, 10/17, “Promising” and “B” grade across different studies. According to past literature, Canada performed well in areas of efficiency, productivity, attaining health system goals, years of life lived with disability and stroke mortality. By contrast, Canada performed poorly in areas related to disability-adjusted life expectancy, potential years of life lost, obesity in adults and children, diabetes, female lung cancer and infant mortality. CONCLUSION: As countries introduce health system reforms aimed at improving the health of populations, international comparisons are useful to inform cross-country learning in health and social policy. While ranking systems do have shortcomings, they can serve to shine a spotlight on Canada's health system strengths and weaknesses to better inform the health policy agenda.