Experts warn the devil is in the details with Alberta's 'experiment' to expand private health care
CBC
Some health experts say they’re worried new legislation designed to expand private health care in Alberta was not properly planned and is missing key protections for the public health system.
Bill 11 was introduced in the legislature on Monday and, if passed, will pave the way for a “dual practice” model in Alberta, allowing doctors to work in both the public and private system.
Under the plan, patients could pay for health care, including surgeries such as hip and knee replacements, in the province. The government argues this will relieve pressure on the public system, potentially decreasing wait times.
The Alberta Medical Association, which represents doctors in the province, said it wasn’t consulted on the legislation, and it wants a seat at the table as further details are hammered out.
“Any reform needs to be informed with the best evidence. It needs experts to actually weigh in,” the group’s president, Dr. Brian Wirzba, said in an interview with CBC News.
“Most places that have tried this have run into problems. … It’s going to be really important to have the details really well laid out.”
In a press release, the Alberta government said the dual practice model is "widely used in countries with top-performing health systems, including Denmark, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Australia."
Dr. Jon Meddings, a retired gastroenterologist and former dean of the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, said he’s not opposed to the idea of a private pay option in Alberta, but the devil is in the details.
"It's an interesting experiment to try," he said.
"If it succeeds — wonderful ... My worry, though, it is not well thought out [and] it has not received a lot of consultation."
He believes the dual practice system will inevitably draw some doctors, already in short supply (such as anesthetists), away from the public system and, as a result, it will not reduce wait times.
“All of the examples that have been used about why this works elsewhere are comparisons to countries that actually don't have the same system as us and, most importantly, actually have many more physicians than we do,” he said.
“Part of the problem that we have in Alberta is that we don't have enough physicians to run two systems. So, I worry about that.”
Meddings said the Alberta government’s use of chartered surgical facilities for publicly funded procedures was already supposed to address long wait times.
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