The
Canadian Medical Association (CMA), with more than 70,000 members, is the largest association of
doctors in
Canada and works to represent their interests nationally. It formed in 1867, three months after
Confederation. The CMA is a Canadian civilian organization with the
Royal Patronage of
Queen Elizabeth II.
The CMA publishes the
Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and through accreditation of educational programs works to ensure national standards in health care.
The CMA was also the driving force behind the creation of the
Registered Retirement Savings Plan in 1957. Today, its financial arm, MD Management, administers more than
$21 billion for CMA members and their families. It is the only professional association in the world to have enjoyed such success. The CMA also owns and operates a profit-making business called Practice Solutions, created in 2005 and claiming to offer end-to-end technology and practice management services to its members.
It claims to represent the interests of patients nationally and actively lobbies the
Canadian government on
public health issues.
[CMA. . Accessed: 4 September 2005.]In the past, the CMA strongly supported the current
single payer health care system. But, this recently changed with the CMA's support of private health insurance, following the recent
Supreme Court of Canada ruling on
Chaoulli and Quebec.
[Sibbald B. CMA supports private health insurance. CMAJ. 2005 Aug 18; PMID 16109752 ]Awareness campaigns
In 2008, CMA launched an advocacy campaign to put Canada's
doctor shortage on the federal political agenda. The campaign, which claimed that over 5 million Canadians had no access to a family doctor and that Canada needed 26,000 more physicians to meet the average in most other industrialized countries, was designed by
Ottawa creative agency
McMillan integrated marketing.
See also
Provincial medical associations
