[Newsbot]

Title: Proposed $200M private orthopedic surgical facility would be largest in Alberta's history
Category: Health
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2020-08-10 07:14:03
Canadian

[DrCaleb]

Experts raise alarm about proposed largest private surgical facility in Alberta history

[uwish]

nothing to see hear, about time!

[DrCaleb]

Back room political lobbying for a for-profit cash cow facility to be funded by the taxpayer. Nothing to see. Move along. Move along.

[uwish]

there are already tons of private clinics in Alberta. 99% of them are funded by the tax payer...

[DrCaleb]

And all of them were created with private funds. None of them had private closed door meetings with the Health Minister before they were built. If any of them were lobbyists, I'd be surprised.

$1:

CBC News obtained a recording from one of three presentations the group made to surgeons from the Edmonton region. For the proposal to be viable, the group needs the support of most of the region's 46 orthopedic surgeons.

During the meeting, the group expressed confidence in its politically connected lobbyists: Elan MacDonald, former deputy chief of staff to premiers Ed Stelmach and Alison Redford, and former senior Alberta Health bureaucrat Glenn Monteith.

The lobbyists described what appeared to be ready access to government officials.

$1:

Kevin McKee, chief executive officer of Edmonton-based Pangman Development Corp, told the surgeons the service contract with the government would ensure the venture was profitable and could not be easily cancelled.

"The design of the contract would be such that it becomes financially very, very punitive for the government to rip it up," McKee said, assuring the surgeons that it would not cost them any money if a future government ended the contract.

To the contrary, he said the contract would seek to ensure the surgeons would profit.

How many of the private clinics in Alberta have that kind of a guarantee?

[llama66]

doesn't matter, the sheep that voted Kenny in will do it again, and again until the Province is nothing more than a shill to big business... wait...

[DrCaleb]

It's sad that they only get the sound bites, and base decisions on that.

I wonder how many would change their vote if the did a little research into the underlying reality.

[uwish]

There are 40+ chartered surgical facilities in AB that are publicly funded.

Sask's move to use more of these facilities reduced costs by 26%.

Many OECD countries rely on private clinics to improve health outcomes.

Investment, reduced costs, better outcomes

[DrCaleb]

Cost reductions come by lowering standards and hiring unqualified people.

We see these results in the for-profit long term care homes right now.

Not to mention:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... r-1.900873

[uwish]

if you are claiming the government does it better than private industry, ask Spacex and NASA how that is working out.

[DrCaleb]

uwish uwish:

if you are claiming the government does it better than private industry, ask Spacex and NASA how that is working out.

NASA has been burdened with companies doing cost-plus contracts on things like the SLS for decades.

And when healthcare becomes a for profit industry at in cost-plus contract, we see exactly the kind of system the United States has now. Private businesses in healthcare makes sense, sometimes. But like the link I posted shows, 10 years after the last private orthopedic hospital went bankrupt, the next one will require an very generous Government contract and the forced co-operation of all Orthopedic Surgeons to make the next one profitable.

Sounds like more money, poorer outcome.

[uwish]

Issue with US healthcare is the insurance industry, not necessarily because it is 'private'. If you ask one doctor how much a particular procedure will cost, he can't tell you, until they talk to the insurance company.

[DrCaleb]

And when the Insurance company is the local government, they know how much it will cost, and how to do that in the price range and still make a profit.

There is a mall here that is filled with little clinics, privately run, that all do some sort of private and public surgeries. And they seem to be working just fine.

There is no need for a giant hospital to do the same thing, propped up by my tax money, so that surgeons can drive Bentlys instead of BMWs.

[uwish]

They get paid by surgery, and their compensation is mandated by the government on a fixed scale. Just because the hospital is private doesn't mean they can charge more, nor perform more surgeries than they are currently.