Analysis of public data showing startling increases in the cost of outsourced surgical procedures in Alberta that cannot be explained by inflation or input costs seem to corroborate claims of contract irregularities made by fired Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos, says a new report on for-profit surgical costs.
The report, Operation Profit: Private Surgical Contracts Deliver Higher Costs and Longer Waits, by B.C.-based health policy researcher Andrew Longhurst, points to a “sharp increase” in the unit cost paid by Alberta Health Services to so-called “chartered surgical facilities” – that is, private surgical clinics contracted under the provincial Government’s Alberta Surgical Initiative.
The average cost of outsourced surgical procedures has soared by 79 per cent since 2019, when the United Conservative Party Government policy of contracting out private surgical services through the ASI began, says the report based on available public data.
“Between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal years, the average cost of an outsourced procedure rose by 52 per cent,” Mr. Longhurst wrote in the report released this morning by the Edmonton-based Parkland Institute. “This represents a significant acceleration in cost growth, as the previous year saw only a 13-per-cent increase.”
The big cost jump is likely the result of negotiated contract prices with private surgical providers being ratcheted up, he said. But the magnitude of the increase “cannot be explained by inflation or other reasonable hikes in input costs.”
“It is also unlikely that there was a change in CSFs performing more complex procedures that attracted a higher rate, since these facilities only perform routine, lower complexity procedures,” he added.
While the contracts negotiated by AHS with private operators are shrouded in secrecy, the report noted, the researcher cited The Globe and Mail’s Feb. 21 report by journalists Carrie Tait and Alanna Smith, which showed hip, knee and shoulder procedure costs at for-profit CFSs “were 57 to 133 per cent more expensive than the same procedures performed in public hospitals.” The Alberta Surgical Group showed the largest premium.
“The findings of this Parkland Institute analysis appear to corroborate concerns about the potential irregularities identified by Ms. Mentzelopoulos, which may have led to her dismissal by the government,” the researcher concluded. (Just to be perfectly clear, Ms. Mentzelopoulos alleged in her statement of claim, which has not yet been examined by a court, that she was fired because she was trying to investigate the irregularities she says she found and intended to stop.)
The conclusions of Mr. Longhurst’s report, however, are much broader. Not only do the data show how for-profit surgical contracts in Alberta have shot upward, they indicate the ASI has resulted in longer wait times for critical surgeries and diverted limited pool of qualified surgeons and other medical staff from public hospitals at the same time as the government’s funding of public hospitals has declined.
This diversion is not a surprise. It happens wherever right-wing governments experiment with privatized surgical services.
But the report makes it clear that, by any measure, the UCP privatization program is doing the opposite of what the government claims and making almost everything worse.
Wait times: Since the start of the ASI, wait times have increased for nine of 11 procedures tracked by the respected Canadian Institute for Health Information, among them knee replacements and all cancer surgeries. Median wait times for colorectal cancer surgery in Alberta rose 8 per cent; wait times for lung cancer surgery soared 48 per cent.
Impact on Public Hospitals: “Public hospitals are being starved of staff and funding, while private providers receive inflated payments for the lowest complexity surgeries,” Mr. Longhurst said. Meanwhile, from 2013 to 2022, only three provinces reported declines in real per-capita public hospital spending. Alberta’s 13-per-cent drop was the biggest. “Provincial hospital expenditure as a share of GDP in Alberta declined from 2.2 per cent in 2013 to 2 per cent in 2022, making it the lowest in the country.”
Public subsidies for the private sector: Since the ASI began in the 2018-19 fiscal year, the report notes, “public payments to for-profit facilities increased by 225 per cent.” But the ASI, it concluded, has “simply shifted surgical activity to for-profit facilities at the expense of public hospitals.”
Surgical activity: Over five years, the Alberta Government’s payments of $154 million to for-profit operators only added 16,493 procedures to the system.
“Albertans deserve accountability and transparency in how their health-care dollars are spent, Mr. Longhurst concluded. His report calls for a full public inquiry with the ability to summon witnesses to testify under oath.
The results are not surprising but having them statistically validated is important and convincing. Now to get the information out.
This is getting to a point where, like Russia and America, the graft and corruption are no longer in the shadows. I believe we can now say without fear of contradiction that corruption has been normalized in Alberta. We know this because the UCP are STILL leading in the polls. Once we have received our tepid response from NDP management we can go back to sleep. If you looked up the definition of an Alberta voter in a dictionary there would be a picture of a lemming.
Russia has been on a comprehensive plan to take back their country from the oligarchs (that were given it, or allowed to steal it by interested parties in the west, the IMF, the world bank, etc. ). The whole reason the western elites hate PUTIN is because he was supposed to be compliant and help the west bleed Russia white, and he’s done the opposite. In fact you’ll note that many of them live in exile, because they’ll be arrested for crimes if they return to Russia. Is it perfect ? What state is ? But things have changed a lot in the last twenty years, Russia has made meaningful progress in this regard (and it shows, with the strength of their economy, support for the president, and infrastructure that should make us that live in the falling apart west, weep. )
Do I even need to talk about the Americans again ? Seriously.
This corruption in alberta is staggering, sure, but it’s as Canadian as maple syrup so maybe let’s cool it with the finger pointing elsewhere.
Actually, I think some of the hate towards Putin, by western nations, is the demonstrated and proven attempts to kill his enemies or those who oppose him by poison, etc. Navalny finally died in a Siberian prison and currently, the Russian leader is boot-licking the US President in order to get asmuch as he can from a country that he invaded 3 years ago. If you are trying to make a point about corruption, perhaps using a former KGB agent would be the best post boy.
Other than being energized/enthusiastic before the leadership race, the ABNDP responses to Smith/UCP have been pretty lacklustre thus far. And can Nenshi not find other words other than *dumb* (ableist language) to criticize Smith’s/ the UCP? I have to say though, I think the ABNDP are in a weaker position with him at the helm. ♀️
Let’s be real. There are over two years to go before the next provincial election, and the voters aren’t really paying attention. I just looked at 338Canada.com’s projections for Alberta, and not only are they more than a month old, the margins of error are very wide.
https://338canada.com/alberta/
People are consumed with the federal election and the Orange Menace south of the border. Then there are also civic elections coming in October.
Once we get into 2027, people will start paying more attention.
Lemmings are cute and snuggly, and are very important for feeding owls and wolves. None of those things can be said of the Alberta electorate. Not truthfully, anyway.
Everything you say is right on point, sadly. It’s very discouraging to live here these days. Lemmings as voters, and an infuriatingly ineffective opposition!
As a long-term administraive employee of AHS, I am astounded that this kind of taxpayer money is being wasted on this while I have worked the last 12 years with an increase of $2.17 per hour over that entire 13 year period. So much for us all getting fat on the government teat in a cushy union job, eh?
Marlaina won’t agree to a full public inquiry. She is counting on the RCMP investigation dragging on for years at which time most of the UCP privatization scheme will be in place and providing millions of taxpayer dollars to cronies.
Too bad she’s in Florida today on another taxpayer funded junket or else we might be able to ask her questions.
By the time this government’s term is up, the only Albertans who will be able to get timely surgical care are those who can afford to pay.
“Albertans who will be able to get timely surgical care are those who can afford to pay.” That’s the point of the UCP/TBA malfeasance. I bet the UCP/TBA’s wealthy owners don’t have to wait long and the price is irrelevant for them when the government they bought is funneling them all that free public money money.
The most brain dead thing about the rich in this province wanting to buy healthcare to skip to the front of the line is that you can only do so for minor procedures. Have a serious life threatening issue and you’re in the cue with everyone else in a system you’ve cheered the slow starvation of. Greedy, narcissistic, assholes.
What do you know? Turns out the experts, who were predicting these outcomes all along, for decades, were essentially correct and the conservative politicians were hopelessly wrong about everything they promised.
I wonder if voters are getting the message about conservative politicians yet?
I don’t believe that Jason Kenney, and especially Danielle Smith/ Adriana LaGrange were “wrong” about the effects of private surgeries. Rather, they told two different stories. Their public story was, “This will help you get surgery faster.”
Behind closed doors, their message to the CSF owners was, “OK guys, here’s what you wanted. Fill yer boots.” The result is exactly what the businessmen and the anti-government government ministers intended.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in the end the Auditor General finds the payments made agree to signed or approved contracts, but that is not the problem. The problems here are whether there was value for money (it seems likely not), if there was political interference or pressure in setting up the agreements (it seems like there was) and if this was good policy (probably not).
These are big problems even before we get into issues of possible corruption or fraud. Did politicians get anything for giving out these lucrative contracts? We already know about the hockey tickets, but is there more? Also, there are allegations that people who worked at AHS involved in making these agreements also had a connection to some of the companies who benefited from them. I think almost anyone can understand the conflict of interest here.
It seems like the former AHS CEO stumbled upon these problems, perhaps not initially realizing how serious they were and who were all involved. So she did her job in being diligent and trying to get to the bottom of this, which of course proved quite inconvenient for her political bosses and others. When she wouldn’t stop the investigation, they shut it down and then she was terminated.
Whether by fluke or political maneuvering a long time ago, the fact that the province of Alberta holds the majority of the oil, means that a few wealthy owners of a few major corporations owns much of the cards.
Unfortunately it also means that many intelligent and hard working Albertans have been taken advantage of for a long time. Because instead of seeing this extreme greed and hoarding as an addiction to overcome, these same snake oil salespeople have led them to believe that this ought to be the true measure of success to pursue; That they too can perhaps share in this wealth and join their club so long as they trust and do whatever these addicts say, even if it means selling out their extended family, their province and their country.
Prove me wrong. Please.
As the plot thickens around the AHS contract scandals, and the likely involvement of Queen Danielle and the Health Minister, it’s beginning to look more and more like Smith may not be coming back from Florida. In many ways, Smith’s frequent appearances and apparently adoration by the MAGA crowd is telegraphing the fact that Smith has found her people, and she wants to stay with them. Seeing a chance to jump from being the troubled premier of the Province of the Idiots, to a more lucrative position as Foxnews personality. Perhaps she is Trump’s handpicked ‘Canada Expert’? Smith will be the one to analyze and dismantle the Canadian resistance to American annexation. She effectively becomes a latter Tokyo Rose or Lord Haw-Haw, and gets to earn her keep, by telling wild lies about Canada, Canadians, and reality in general.
These are the “cherished entrepreneurs and wealth creators” and their “robust, growing, profitable businesses” that the self interested lobbyist speaks so highly of.
It is all accomplished without mentioning, or independently examining the increasing likelihood that a normalized culture of influence peddling, conflicts of interest, and political corruption appears to accompany and facilitate “the success of a “government (that) is dependent upon the success of private enterprise”.
The religious zealotry that accompanies and promotes the current economic dogma manufactures its consent by using various charter myths and/or noble lies.
So much for the theory private business interests can provide health care at a lower price and with better results, etc. Somebody is making a shit load of money. Can’t some bodyarrest those involved in this scam be arrested. I know, I know there has to be a law broken and there has to be a chance they might be convicted.
Smith has run off to party with the magas at mara log ho, on the tax payers nickel again. Nice place to avoid the Canadian press. On the other hand I’m sure more than a few people will say, you just can’t trust a Conservative. Partying with the enemy is never a good look.
We knew all along that something was rotten here in UCP land.