Health Equity Foundations: Social Determinants and Upstream Intervention in Northern Ontario

Healthcare organizations across Canada consistently pursue sophisticated technological innovations while avoiding the fundamental work of addressing basic access barriers that create health disparities. This comprehensive 40-page analysis examines what Northern Health Equity Consulting calls the "magic potion fallacy" and presents an evidence-based alternative.

Executive Summary

This analysis examines how the magic potion fallacy manifests in Northern Ontario's healthcare landscape, where geographic isolation, cultural diversity, and resource constraints create unique challenges that sophisticated solutions fail to address. Through examination of policy initiatives like Ontario Health Teams and successful models like the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University, this document demonstrates how upstream interventions that address root causes outperform downstream innovations that treat symptoms.

NHEC's return to basics framework proposes three fundamental foundations for health equity work: access assessment, benefit analysis, and upstream intervention. Healthcare organizations must abandon the search for magic potions and focus on addressing the simple but difficult foundations that create health disparities.

Citation

Bossart-Pletzer, C. (2025). Health Equity Foundations: Social Determinants and Upstream Intervention in Northern Ontario. Northern Health Equity Consulting.

About the Author

Carla Bossart-Pletzer is the Founding Director of Northern Health Equity Consulting, specializing in social determinants and upstream intervention in Northern Ontario. Her work centres community partnership and upstream intervention approaches, challenging healthcare organizations to move beyond sophisticated solutions toward systematic attention to the fundamental conditions that create health disparities.

Contact: carla@northernhealthequity.ca | northernhealthequity.ca