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Vitamin D Newsletter

Newsletter

Canadian healthcare policy on funding for vitamin D testing

Dear Colleagues,

I wish to alert you to the situation in Canada regarding Vitamin D testing and to ask for your support by way of comments sent to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). Deadline is Sept. 26th.

The Canadian province of Ontario has solicited expert medical advice and is proposing to eliminate Vitamin D testing for many patients whose conditions may benefit by an assessment of Vitamin D sufficiency.

In June, Ontario's Health Technology Advisory Committee (OHTAC) concluded that the use of Vitamin D testing for the general population could not be justified based on current evidence. MOHLTC will be restricting Vitamin D testing as an insured service to Ontarians with the following conditions: Osteoporosis, Rickets, Osteopenia, Malabsorption Syndromes and Renal Disease, or Ontarians who are on medications that affect vitamin D metabolism. The impact of this will be to greatly limit access to a biomarker tool that has been documented to reduce the economic burden of other Vitamin D-sensitive diseases.

If this change occurs, a significant number of patients who may be at risk will not have access to Vitamin D testing. MOHLTC fails to provide medical evidence to support that by eliminating Vitamin D testing they will improve the quality or value of health care for those that are Vitamin D insufficient or deficient. Even in otherwise healthy populations, generalized supplementation guidelines may be oversimplified given anticipated patient-unique dose-response to Vitamin D supplementation. As you are aware, clinical studies have indicated that Vitamin D deficiency may be the root cause of a host of health complications.

Thank you,
John Cannell, MD
Vitamin D Council

Page last edited: 25 January 2011