A new report, funded in part by CUPE and the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, is raising concerns about moving public health procedures to private clinics.
Report author Andrew Longhurst reviewed statistics from other provinces, and Freedom of Information requests when writing his report. Longhurst is a health policy researcher at Simon Fraser University.
"It raises concerns about the policy direction that the Ontario government is headed in, in terms of increasing the number of OHIP procedures performed in these for-profit facilities," said Longhurst.
His research paper concludes that the private delivery of similar procedures in other Canadian provinces has ultimately led to longer wait-times and higher costs for the tax payer.
"Provinces with much greater for-profit surgical involvement, these are actually provinces with significantly worse wait-times for hip and knee replacements as well as other procedures," said Longhurst.
The Ontario Health Coalition travelled the province in November sharing the results of this report. The full report can be found here.
Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj has applauded the the decision to fund cataract surgeries at a private clinic to alleviate pressure on the hospital's operating rooms.
