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Starting this fall, the Alberta government plans to allow approved doctors to work in both the public and private health care systems in the province.
The announcement about the launch of the “dual practice model” was made Thursday by Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, who says the status quo is not working because too many Albertans are waiting in the queue too long to get surgery.
The procedures that will be eligible under the new model include hip and knee replacements, orthopedic procedures, cataract surgery, select ear, nose and throat surgeries, dermatology, plastic surgery and gynecological surgeries.
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, only 64 per cent of hip and knee replacements are done within the six-month target time.
While the health minister claims the new system will reduce wait times, University of Calgary researcher Babatope Adebiyii says that might not be true.
“With every policy it’s always a good idea on paper (but) when it comes to implementation, how do we implement dual policy?”
In a paper published last month in the medical journal The Lancet, University of Calgary researcher Babatope Adebiyii said the Alberta government’s claims that its dual-practice health care model will reduce wait times, might not be true.
Source: The Lancet
In a paper published last month in the world-leading, peer-reviewed, medical journal The Lancet Adebiyii found that when surgeons in Ireland, Australia, the U.K., Brazil and Chile worked in both the public and private health care systems, wait times go longer for people in the public system and shorter for those able to pay.
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Some details of the Alberta government’s plan still need to be revealed — like what the minimum hours will be that a doctor must work in the public system, before they can work in the private system.
The CEO of Acumen Health, a private sports medicine, orthopedic and rehab clinic that operates in Alberta, says those details are key.
“How we’re going to be working with the public is the utmost importance,” says Francesca Sebastion. “How we are going to be able to rent the OR room that is in non-hospital facilities and those surgeons that are going to be coming from public and private, how will that affect the access to patients?”
The Alberta NDP say under the government’s “two-tiered” health care plan an individual’s income will determine how quickly they can receive non-emergency medical care — ushering in “American-style for-profit health care.”
The NDP says that is “unacceptable, and so is the silence from the federal Minister of Health.”
They’re calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Health Minister to enforce the Canada Health Act.
The federal government says it is reviewing Alberta’s plans carefully and will ensure the Canada Health Act is upheld before the Alberta government’s plans are fully implemented.
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