Funding for Alberta private surgical facilities growing faster than for public hospitals, report shows

Ishita Verma · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 27, 2025 1:34 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Costs and hold times person accrued importantly nether Alberta's determination to privatize immoderate surgeries, according to a caller study from the Parkland Institute.

The investigation of the Alberta Surgical Initiative (ASI), released Wednesday, raises concerns astir the government's declining concern successful nationalist hospitals portion backing for backstage surgical facilities grows.

The ASI was started successful 2018-19 nether then-premier Jason Kenney. Between past and 2023-24, nationalist payments to for-profit facilities accrued by 225 per cent, researcher Andrew Longhurst writes successful the report, titled Operation Profit.

His investigation shows that betwixt 2018-19 and 2022-23, nationalist payments to for-profit surgical facilities successful Alberta accrued by 66 per cent, portion nationalist infirmary operating-room expenditures accrued by 12 per cent.

Median hold times for 9 of 11 precedence surgeries tracked by the Canadian Institute for Health Information person accrued nether the ASI, the study notes.

"The Alberta Surgical Initiative has not improved full provincial surgical capableness nor hold times for astir precedence procedures," the study says.

"The provincial government's persistent claims astir the benefits of this inaugural are not supported by the disposable data."

The Parkland Institute is simply a not-for-profit probe centre operating from the University of Alberta's module of arts.

Longhurst's investigation follows the motorboat of a suit from Athana Mentzelopoulos, who was fired successful January arsenic CEO of Alberta Health Services.

Among different allegations, Mentzelopoulos claims she was pressured to widen backstage country contracts she disquieted weren't successful taxpayers' champion interests.

Longhurst says that betwixt 2022-23 and 2023-24, the mean outgo of outsourced procedures successful Alberta accrued by 52 per cent.

His study says nationalist payments to chartered surgical facilities astir doubled implicit the aforesaid period, jumping from $28.6 cardinal successful 2022-23 to $55.8 cardinal successful 2023-24.

LISTEN | Parkland Institute raises concerns astir backstage surgical facilities:

"Over the past 5 years, nationalist backing going to for-profit facilities has accrued 5 times faster than backing for nationalist infirmary operating rooms," Longhurst, a governmental economist and wellness argumentation researcher, told CBC's Edmonton AM. 

"When we look astatine orthopedic country costs and for-profit facilities, they're up to 2 times much costly than the precise aforesaid procedures performed successful nationalist hospitals," helium said.

"I deliberation the clip is present to truly guarantee that nationalist dollars are going wherever they ought to be."

The purpose of the ASI was to treble the fig of surgeries performed successful backstage clinics from 15 to 30 per cent of each procedures by 2023.

The extremity has not been reached. According to the latest Alberta Health Services yearly report, astir 20 per cent of each 305,000 surgeries successful 2023-24 were completed astatine chartered surgical facilities.

Longhurst's study shows the Alberta government's payments of $154 cardinal to for-profit facilities successful 2023-24 added astir 16,000 of the least-complex procedures to the system.

Private facilities working, province says

In a statement, the bureau of Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said the Parkland Institute study "selectively highlights information that supports ideological narratives portion overlooking the practical, evidence-based solutions implemented by Alberta's government.

"The use of chartered surgical facilities has played a cardinal relation successful reducing hold times and improving diligent care, yet these successes are often dismissed oregon downplayed successful favour of an ideological stance that does not bespeak the existent advancement we've made."

The connection said Alberta Health is targeting a grounds fig of 310,000 surgeries for 2024-25.

Longhurst said the issue isn't that Alberta needs much surgical spaces. He said the large interest close present is that the workforce is being shifted from nationalist facilities to backstage ones.

The ASI continues to displacement the nationalist assemblage health-care workforce to turn the for-profit system  that relies on the aforesaid specialized workforce, helium said.

"And simply by moving them to these for-profit facilities means that nationalist hospitals can't present those life-saving surgeries."