The latest study on wait times for key medical procedures finds there can often be a wide variation from one province to another.
But the Canadian Institute for Health Information found that three out of four Canadians received a hip or knee replacement, cataract surgery, hip fracture repair or cancer radiation therapy within the recommended wait times in 2016.
The institute's report provides a snapshot of patient wait times for five priority medical procedures in 2016 and compares them to data for the previous four years.
Overall, wait times for hip fracture repair across the country continued to improve, with the percentage of patients receiving surgery within the 48-hour benchmark increasing to 86 per cent in 2016 from 81 per cent in 2012.
Wait times for joint replacement remained relatively unchanged last year, with 75 per cent of patients receiving hip or knee replacement surgery within the 182-day benchmark.
There was a significant drop in the proportion of Canadians who were able to get cataract surgery within the targeted wait time of 112 days -- falling from 83 per cent in 2012 to 73 per cent last year.
The institute says that might have something to do with the country's aging population.
When it came to cancer patients, the institute found that about 97 per cent received radiation therapy within the 28-day benchmark in 2016.
In Ontario, the institute found four of five patients got their hip or knee replacements or hip fracture surgeries within the benchmark time frame.
The province followed the national trend with longer waits for cataract surgeries. 70 per cent of patients got surgery in the prescribed time frame, down from 86 per cent in 2012.
Canadian Institute for Heath Information
with a file from Siobhan Morris