A seniors advocate is upset the Higgs government renewed a service agreement with Medavie Health Services to manage the Extra-Mural Program.
Preliminary data shows an improvement in several areas including referral-to-care time, emergency room visits per patient and satisfaction of patients.
“We made a promise to review the Extra-Mural Program contract and we delivered on that promise,” said Health Minister Ted Flemming. “Based on the initial analysis of performance to date, we are confident to continue the service agreement and we will continue to monitor it.”
But Cecile Cassista with the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights is questioning where the data is coming from – Medavie or the government – and she is seeking more information.
“Public health belongs in the public domain. We get funding from the federal government and it should be administered by the public sector not by the private sector,” she says.
According to Cassista, Medavie receives about $2.6 million a year from the province to cover administration costs, another $1.8 million to meet targets and if those targets are met they get another $4.4 million annually.
Cassista says the former Liberal government even admitted privatization is costing taxpayers more money, so she wonders why the province is still doing it.
