{"id":28541,"date":"2023-05-09T13:16:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T17:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=28541"},"modified":"2023-05-23T13:17:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T17:17:12","slug":"ontario-passes-health-care-bill-allowing-private-clinics-to-conduct-more-surgeries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/ontario-passes-health-care-bill-allowing-private-clinics-to-conduct-more-surgeries\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario passes health-care bill allowing private clinics to conduct more surgeries"},"content":{"rendered":"

(May 8th, 2023)<\/p>\n

By: Katherine DeClerq<\/a>,\u00a0CTV News Toronto<\/p>\n

The Ontario government has passed a bill allowing private clinics to conduct more OHIP-covered surgeries as advocates warn of potential legal action.<\/p>\n

Bill 60, also known as the\u00a0Your Health Act, was passed by the Doug Ford government Monday at Queen\u2019s Park and will go into effect once it receives Royal Assent.<\/p>\n

The legislation was\u00a0first tabled<\/a>\u00a0in February by Health Minister Sylvia Jones, who argued it was necessary to reduce the province\u2019s large surgical backlog.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople should not have to wait for months for diagnosis, and if necessary, surgeries,\u201d Jones said on Feb. 21.<\/p>\n

Under the bill, both for-profit and not-for-profit clinics will be allowed to conduct cataract surgeries, MRI and CT scans, minimally invasive gynecological surgeries and, eventually, knee and hip replacements under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.<\/p>\n

The legislation was met with immediate backlash from advocates and experts concerned about oversight, staffing and upselling.<\/p>\n

The province\u2019s official opposition has repeatedly said the plan will result in a two-tiered system leading some patients to \u201cjump to the front of the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is a sad day, a day that will go down in history of our province as the day that the Ford government delivered a fatal blow to our treasured Medicare,\u201d NDP Health Critic France Gelinas told reporters Monday morning ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday this Conservative government will say goodbye to care based on needs and come on in to investors who wants to make money off of the backs of sick people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NDP has said it presented 74 amendments to the\u00a0Your Health Act\u00a0in committee, but none were accepted or even considered by the Doug Ford government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did not engage in discussion. I would say they did not even listen to what we were saying,\u201d Gelinas said.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0revised version of the legislation<\/a>\u00a0shows only one change, and it appears technical in nature.<\/p>\n

The legislation, also known as Bill 60, specifies that a physician at a private clinic shall not turn a patient away for choosing to pay with their OHIP card.<\/p>\n

Some experts have previously told CTV News Toronto that allowing private clinics to perform more procedures does have the\u00a0potential to help relieve some of the pressure<\/a>\u00a0being put on the province’s health-care system; however they also suggested that a plan for staffing, as well as transparent funding and oversight, will be necessary.<\/p>\n

The province has said it will designate \u201cexpert organizations\u201d to work with Ontario Health and the Ministry of Health to ensure quality and safety standards are met at every clinic. The director of this third-party or the ministry may issue an inspection of a facility if necessary.<\/p>\n

The Ontario Health Coalition, which advocates for publicly-funded health care while representing more than 500 member organizations and individuals, has said this oversight is not enough to combat what they have previously called\u00a0\u201cmanipulative upselling\u201d at private clinics.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBefore they brought in the legislation, Doug Ford said that they had guardrails, and they will be protecting against all sorts of things,\u201d Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, told reporters.<\/p>\n

The coalition released a compilation of testimonies from patients in February that revealed instances in which people were forced to pay out of pocket for procedures that should be covered under their insurance.<\/p>\n

In some instances, patients said they were urged to get upgraded lenses, told they had to incur the costs of eye measurements, and invoiced for contrast dye needed for imaging.<\/p>\n

Mehra warned they will be filing a formal complaint to both the provincial and federal government, and that further legal action may be possible following the passing of Bill 60.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think you’re going to set up shop here and charge OHIP and charge patients on top, you have another thing coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the\u00a0Your Health Act\u00a0does say that all private clinics will need to show they have a staffing model in place that won\u2019t detract from other facilities, experts and unions say they remain concerned that staff will leave the public sector in exchange for better hours or pay at a private clinic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is good, but there’s still there’s a tremendous lack of human resources to be able to sort of pull this one off,\u201d Doug Angus, professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa\u2019s Telfer School of Management the University of Ottawa,\u00a0told CTV News Toronto in January.<\/a><\/p>\n

John Fraser, interim Liberal leader, reiterated this in a statement issued Monday, saying the health-care system as it stands now is under stress and needs more support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat should be of great concern to all Ontarians is that the government\u2019s solution to the healthcare human resources crisis \u2013 which will be the biggest ongoing challenge in this province for some time to come \u2013 is to set up a parallel system that will compete for the nurses, doctors, and frontline workers that our hospitals and long-term care homes desperately need,\u201d Fraser said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be only one shareholder when it comes to our healthcare system, and that\u2019s the patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

The province has said there are more than 200,000 people in Ontario waiting for surgical procedures.<\/p>\n

Click here for original article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(May 8th, 2023) By: Katherine DeClerq,\u00a0CTV News Toronto The Ontario government has passed a bill allowing private clinics to conduct more OHIP-covered surgeries as advocates warn of potential legal action. Bill 60, also known as the\u00a0Your Health Act, was passed by the Doug Ford government Monday at Queen\u2019s Park and will go into effect once […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\nOntario passes health-care bill allowing private clinics to conduct more surgeries - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(May 8th, 2023) By: Katherine DeClerq,\u00a0CTV News Toronto The Ontario government has passed a bill allowing private clinics to conduct more OHIP-covered\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/ontario-passes-health-care-bill-allowing-private-clinics-to-conduct-more-surgeries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ontario passes health-care bill allowing private clinics to conduct more surgeries - 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