{"id":29480,"date":"2024-03-01T13:42:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T18:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=29480"},"modified":"2024-03-20T13:46:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T17:46:10","slug":"private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/","title":{"rendered":"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

(February 28, 2024) By: Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen<\/p>\n

One year after a group of orthopedic surgeons began renting vacant operating rooms on Saturdays at The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s Riverside campus, the group is doubling the number of surgeries it performs there.<\/p>\n

Cameron Love, president and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital, said the Academic Orthopedic Surgical Associates of Ottawa (AOAO) has already performed around 500 hip and knee surgical procedures at Riverside. Love said AOAO would do 1,000 more surgeries working two days on weekends.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

The group originally performed surgeries on Saturdays.\u00a0 It began doing surgeries on Sundays as well last September.<\/p>\n

AOAO is also applying to the provincial government to build a standalone surgical centre in Ottawa where it plans to eventually do the surgeries, said Love. The province is expanding for-profit licensed clinics to perform health procedures, including surgeries, outside of hospitals.<\/p>\n

Provincial health officials say the expansion will cut surgical wait times and free hospitals to perform more complex surgeries. Health-care advocates, though, point out that across the province, hospital operating rooms sit vacant on weekends, late afternoons and evenings. Research from other provinces suggests private surgeries cost the health system more.<\/p>\n

Love says funding for AOAO\u2019s surgeries goes through the hospital and will continue to even after AOAO sets up an independent surgical site.\u00a0 Weekend surgeries are less expensive than those performed at the hospital, according to an earlier statement from the hospital posted to its website, adding the cost of hip or knee surgery is around $8,000 at TOH but the cost of doing the same surgery through AOAO is $6,400. The difference, the hospital says, is reinvested in the hospital.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Love said the orthopedic surgeries were one cost \u201cefficiency\u201d the hospital was finding. TOH is also working with hospitals in Kemptville and Renfrew to expand operating room access, including for gynecological surgeries.<\/p>\n

Love said an increasing focus of the hospital was to \u201cexpand capacity\u201d outside of the hospital walls to ease crowding and offer specific care.<\/p>\n

The surgeries have raised fears of poaching staff from the public hospital system at a time of widespread nursing and health worker shortages. AOAO had been paying nurses a flat rate of $750 for a 10-hour day. Registered practical nurses were being paid $550 and clerical staff $600. That is about double the rate in the public system, but without benefits.<\/p>\n

Health advocates and critics are watching warily for the expansion of independent clinics which will introduce more for-profit players into the already stretched health system.<\/p>\n

A recent report from the Kingston Health Coalition found it was costing the health system 56 per cent more to do cataract surgeries in private clinics than at hospitals. The report was based on access to information documents.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Hannah Jensen, a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said surgical wait times were now returning to pre-pandemic levels in Ontario, with 80 per cent of patients having surgery within recommended times. Still, she said: \u201cOur government knows wait times for surgeries and diagnostic tests have been increasing year after year. We are not okay with the status quo and know more work needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the government was excited to see TOH embracing innovation \u201cto provide more publicly-funded procedures, reducing the surgical backlog and reducing wait times so more people can receive the care they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did not respond to a question about how much the province pays for the weekend surgeries.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, patient Deb Paterson, who had knee replacement surgery at the Riverside last year, said she had an excellent experience.<\/p>\n

Five months after being told the wait could be a couple of years, she received a call asking if she wanted to have her surgery through \u201cthis new program.\u201d She had surgery about four months later.<\/p>\n

After being assured it was covered by OHIP, she said yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear about so many things that aren\u2019t going well. This sure went well for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

(February 28, 2024) By: Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen One year after a group of orthopedic surgeons began renting vacant operating rooms on Saturdays at The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s Riverside campus, the group is doubling the number of surgeries it performs there. Cameron Love, president and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital, said the Academic Orthopedic Surgical Associates […]<\/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-29480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPrivate surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(February 28, 2024) By: Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen One year after a group of orthopedic surgeons began renting vacant operating rooms on Saturdays at\" \/>\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\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa - Ontario Health Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(February 28, 2024) By: Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen One year after a group of orthopedic surgeons began renting vacant operating rooms on Saturdays at\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ontario Health Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-01T18:42:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-20T17:46:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4\"},\"headline\":\"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-01T18:42:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-20T17:46:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":661,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"OHC in the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\\\/\",\"name\":\"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa - Ontario Health Coalition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-01T18:42:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-20T17:46:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"(February 28, 2024) By: Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen One year after a group of orthopedic surgeons began renting vacant operating rooms on Saturdays at\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\",\"description\":\"Our primary goal is to protect and improve our public health care system\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/logo_ohc_new-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/logo_ohc_new-1.png\",\"width\":478,\"height\":240,\"caption\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ontariohealth?fref=ts\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/OntarioHealthC\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ontariohealthcoalition\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tiktok.com\\\/@ontariohealthc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCPy4Erf4xGLZV6CY23xdokw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4\",\"name\":\"admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa - Ontario Health Coalition","description":"(February 28, 2024) By: Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen One year after a group of orthopedic surgeons began renting vacant operating rooms on Saturdays at","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa - Ontario Health Coalition","og_description":"(February 28, 2024) By: Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen One year after a group of orthopedic surgeons began renting vacant operating rooms on Saturdays at","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/","og_site_name":"Ontario Health Coalition","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts","article_published_time":"2024-03-01T18:42:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-20T17:46:10+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4"},"headline":"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa","datePublished":"2024-03-01T18:42:24+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-20T17:46:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/"},"wordCount":661,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization"},"articleSection":["OHC in the News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/","name":"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa - Ontario Health Coalition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-03-01T18:42:24+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-20T17:46:10+00:00","description":"(February 28, 2024) By: Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen One year after a group of orthopedic surgeons began renting vacant operating rooms on Saturdays at","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-surgeons-group-doubles-weekend-orthopedic-surgeries-in-ottawa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Private surgeons group doubles weekend orthopedic surgeries in Ottawa"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/","name":"Ontario Health Coalition","description":"Our primary goal is to protect and improve our public health care system","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization","name":"Ontario Health Coalition","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo_ohc_new-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo_ohc_new-1.png","width":478,"height":240,"caption":"Ontario Health Coalition"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts","https:\/\/x.com\/OntarioHealthC","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ontariohealthcoalition","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@ontariohealthc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCPy4Erf4xGLZV6CY23xdokw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4","name":"admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29481,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29480\/revisions\/29481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}