Province tables legislation to cover health-care system changes By: Larry Kusch Posted: 7:00 PM CST Wednesday, Mar. 6, 2019

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This article was published 05/03/2019 (2124 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Pallister government has introduced broad legislation to support several of its key planned health-care reforms.

Health Minister Cameron Friesen said Wednesday that Bill 10 (The Regional Health Authorities Amendment Act) will provide the framework to simplify the administration of the health-care system and improve accountability.

All health services in Manitoba will be delivered through the five current regional health authorities, CancerCare Manitoba and a new provincial authority called Shared Health. The administrative changes are set to begin next month and will continue to be rolled out over the next two to three years.

The Health Department will cease to administer health services directly and focus its activities on planning, policy development, funding and oversight. It will set system-wide performance goals and track results.

The bill provides the legal authority for previously announced plans to transfer the operations of Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg’s largest hospital, to Shared Health. The Selkirk Mental Health Centre will also fall under the provincial health authority’s auspices, as will the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.

Friesen said the purpose of the administrative changes is not to cut jobs. “The focus is on (realigning) our system. We have had a badly balkanized health-care system for many years in Manitoba,” he told a media briefing before the bill was introduced.

“This is not a money-saving exercise,” he said.

Friesen said the main effect of the changes on patients will be a more co-ordinated approach across Manitoba.

“These changes will simplify the system, allowing for increased focus on the delivery of service across the province and consistent standards of care for all Manitobans,” he said.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said he was concerned that consolidating more services under a provincial health authority would make the system less accountable and more prone to political interference from the premier.

“One of the concerns — among many — is that it’s going to be more difficult to tell if they eliminate jobs or if they eliminate services,” he said.

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont was also skeptical of the changes, saying it appeared the government was adding “another layer of bureaucracy” to the system. Like Kinew, Lamont also said he feared that more centralized control of health care would “pave the way for more political interference coming from the premier’s office” on health decisions.

Friesen said the legislation will make it possible to hold health authorities to account for the services they provide. He was not specific as to what repercussions authorities may face if they fail to perform up to a particular standard, saying that is yet to be determined.

The 85-page bill, if passed, will amend 55 separate pieces of legislation. The Regional Health Authorities Act would be renamed The Health System Governance and Accountability Act.

The bill would also amend The Health Services Insurance Act to clarify that the government has the authority to audit fee-for-service billing by physicians and other health practitioners. Officials say the Health Department has encountered resistance from some physicians when it has attempted to audit billings and recover overpayments.

Shared Health’s responsibilities and duties would include the development and regular updating of a provincial clinical health services plan for the province. It would also be responsible for negotiating with unions and developing a provincial health human resources plan.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Larry Kusch
Legislature reporter

Larry Kusch didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life until he attended a high school newspaper editor’s workshop in Regina in the summer of 1969 and listened to a university student speak glowingly about the journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa.

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