Nova Scotia recoups $3.7M in health-transfer clawbacks from Ottawa

Taryn Grant · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 06, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 6

Ottawa has paid Nova Scotia respective cardinal dollars successful wellness transfers that were antecedently withheld due to the fact that of radical paying retired of pouch for backstage MRIs and ultrasounds.

According to the national government, nary 1 successful Canada should wage for medically indispensable diagnostic imaging services, and it's been clawing backmost wealth from Nova Scotia and different provinces for allowing it to happen.

However, Nova Scotia and Ottawa person travel to an statement that precocious resulted successful a reimbursement of $3.79 cardinal — the full magnitude clawed backmost implicit the past 3 years. The outgo was finalized successful March.

"It's been a agelong clip coming," said Katherine Fierlbeck, a prof of governmental subject astatine Dalhousie University who studies wellness policy. She noted galore different provinces person already made arrangements to trim oregon destruct privately funded aesculapian imaging to person their wellness transfers reimbursed.

Fierlbeck said she has a agelong database of questions astir the details of the agreement, immoderate of which she's hoping volition beryllium answered successful Health Canada's yearly study connected transportation payments. 

The study is typically tabled successful Parliament each March, but the House wasn't sitting from the commencement of January to the extremity of May — the effect of a prorogation and past the national election. The study has yet to beryllium tabled since the caller league began past week.

Health Canada released the reimbursement numbers to CBC News connected request, on with a little explanation.

Contract with backstage clinic

A spokesperson for Health Canada said the cardinal crushed for the reimbursement is "efforts taken by Nova Scotia to destruct diligent charges astatine the backstage clinic."

The backstage session they notation to is Healthview, which offers MRIs and ultrasounds. Nova Scotia Health (NSH) signed a declaration with the Halifax imaging clinic last May to nonstop immoderate patients there at the nationalist expense.

A spokesperson for NSH said 2,278 MRIs and 585 ultrasounds were publically funded astatine Healthview successful the archetypal twelvemonth of the five-year, $7.6-million agreement. Patients who NSH sends to Healthview are triaged successful the aforesaid mode arsenic patients who spell to nationalist clinics.

Privately funded imaging continues

But the declaration with Healthview does not wholly destruct cases of patients paying for medically indispensable imaging. 

Healthview inactive accepts patients who privation to wage to leap the queue, and astatine slightest 2 different backstage clinics successful Halifax bash the same.

Wosler Diagnostics opened past summer, offering ultrasound only, and Why Wait Imaging opened earlier this year, offering ultrasounds and MRIs. NSH confirmed it does not person contracts with either of these clinics.

Fierlbeck said this is hard to reconcile with the information the state received a afloat reimbursement of wellness transportation clawbacks.

WATCH | Why Nova Scotia was losing retired connected wellness transportation payments: 

"If it's lone partial coverage, I would person thought that the ministry would accidental 'OK, partial coverage, we'll springiness you partial reimbursement,'" Fierlbeck said.

She said covering immoderate services at backstage clinics — but not all — makes for a "thinly veiled two-tier system."

The Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness would not marque anyone disposable for an interview.

Health authorization moving connected imaging backlogs

The underlying contented that's pushing galore Nova Scotians to question backstage aesculapian imaging is simply a backlog successful the nationalist health-care system, with immoderate radical waiting months oregon years for MRIs and ultrasounds.

Dr. Tim Mailman said the occupation is analyzable and has been years successful the making, but Nova Scotia Health is "laser-focused" connected improvements.

Mailman, elder aesculapian manager of the diagnostics and therapeutic services network, said the main bottleneck is staffing; there's a shortage of imaging technologists.

"Let's usage MRI arsenic an example," helium said successful an interrogation earlier this year. "If we were capable to tally our existent MRIs crossed the state [for] extended hours, we person capable MRIs to conscionable the demand."

Mailman said there's a "complex workforce strategy" successful the works to code that issue.

Additionally, Mailman said the wellness authorization is moving connected a cardinal intake strategy to streamline booking. He said helium expects it volition trim duplication and no-shows, and yet shorten hold times. The wellness authorization is expecting the strategy to travel online this summer.

Mailman said the wellness authorization is besides moving connected grooming and enactment for clinicians to marque definite they're sending patients for the astir due benignant of imaging.

"As a supplier myself, I tin archer you it's not ever casual … I inactive telephone my phone-a-friend radiologist to say, 'With this circumstantial situation, should I beryllium asking for a CT? Should I beryllium asking for an MRI?'

"It's not policing the resources, it's moving with providers," helium said.

Mailman said the backlog is astir pronounced successful the Central Zone, which includes Halifax. He said different parts of the state are "getting precise adjacent to balancing capableness and demand."