Aussie chosen to run Alberta health care wants to create a model for all Canada
21 hours ago: Canadian Press
EDMONTON — Alberta has gone half way around the world to Australia to find a new senior executive to help reshape health care in the province.
Dr. Stephen Duckett is already talking about how he hopes to create a health-care model that will inspire other provinces looking to control rapid growth in spending.
Duckett, who takes over in March as CEO of Alberta's new health superboard, is also laying to rest any fears that he'll broaden private health-care delivery.
"Public funding of health services is a core principle of medicare and as far as I'm concerned is not on the agenda," he told a news conference Wednesday.
Groups including Friends of Medicare were skeptical when they heard that the new CEO was recruited from Australia, where roughly 40 per cent of hospital admissions are to private facilities.
However, Duckett is on the record as opposing a move to more private health care in Canada.
In a 2005 article he wrote for the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Duckett spoke against Canada adopting the hybrid system in Australia, where a state-run public health-care system operates in tandem with private medicine.
"The dual system has deleterious implications for the equity and efficiency of the health-care system," he wrote. "Similar ill effects would occur if Canada were to follow the Australian path of health-care organization."
Duckett noted in his article that with surgeons often working in both the public and private system, patients end up waiting longer for procedures in public hospitals.
"I'm not coming into this job saying I'm going to privatize everything in sight,"' he said. "What I am on about is making sure the services are efficient and provide the best deal for the people of Alberta."
David Eggen of Friends of Medicare says he's surprised that the province would bring in a "hired gun" from outside of Canada.
"The Australian health system is a mess, quite frankly," Eggen said in an interview. "The mixing of private and public delivery hasn't worked there very well at all."
Alberta is facing serious problems with long waiting times for surgery, a shortage of family doctors and other health professionals, Eggen added.
"They've thrown lots of money at the public system, but it's been inefficiently utilized," he said.
All provinces are struggling to control health-care costs, but the situation in Alberta has become critical in recent months with the health super board declaring a $1.3 billion deficit.
Health Minister Ron Liepert recently released a strategy aimed at curbing operating costs by changing the role of under-utilized rural hospitals to take pressure off hospitals in Edmonton and Calgary.
The strategy will also see a larger portion of drug costs paid by patients and a reshaping of long-term care with an emphasis on keeping seniors in their homes longer.
NDP health critic Rachel Notley says Liepert should be more specific about his next round of reforms.
"This piecemeal, cloak-and-dagger approach that they're taking right now is simply not good enough," she said.
Duckett says it's too early to talk specifically about what changes he might consider for Alberta's $13 billion a year health system.
But he spoke at length about what has worked in his homeland, where he's currently the chief executive for the Queensland Centre of Healthcare Improvement.
Scheduling surgeries on weekends and having incentives for hospitals to reduce waiting times has worked well in Australia, and so has using private clinics, said Duckett.
"We actually starting doing some contracting with the private sector in somewhat similar ways to what I think you're doing already in Calgary," he said. "To do some of this elective surgery, to get some of these long-wait people off the waiting list."
Ken Hughes, chairman of the super board, says Duckett was chosen from dozens of applicants from a short list that included people from New Zealand, Europe and the U.S. But he says the Aussie impressed him as the best choice.
"The Australian health-care system was originally modeled on the Canadian system," said Hughes. "And I think people will look at his experience as having tremendous application in Alberta and in Canada."
Thursday, January 29, 2009
We Will Be Watching Like a Hawk
A top Australian health administrator is the new president of Alberta Health Services.
Stephen Duckett, chief executive of the Centre for Healthcare Improvement for Queensland Health, beat out 140 prospects and a short list of six from Europe, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand to take on the challenging task of heading Alberta's new health organization, already $1.2 billion in debt.
"He is described by people who have worked with him as innovative and as one of -- if not perhaps the leader -- in health care in Australia," said Ken
Hughes, chairman of Alberta Health Services, which was created last year after the province's nine health regions were dismantled and top administrators laid off in an effort to make the system more sustainable and accessible. "It's a fabulous opportunity to provide leadership, not only within Alberta but within Canada. ... He is an agent of change, he is a popular leader, a professor and author."
Duckett, whose wife graduated from the University of Alberta and has a sister in Edmonton, served for two years as deputy minister to the Australian equivalent of Health Canada and has a PhD in health administration. His health experience sets him apart from the health region's board, which was criticized for being largely made up of corporate and business leaders. In Duckett's role in Queensland, he said he improved safety and a leadership culture of cover-ups and bullying by broadening accountability and making safety the core business with all managers and clinicians. He helped hospitals create new care targets, then set up a funding incentive program for fulfilling those targets. Extra money was set aside to encourage doctors to keep operating rooms open on Saturdays and 5,000 staff developed skills in a new leadership program.
Duckett also expanded private delivery of publicly funded services to bring wait times down, similar to what's already happening in Calgary. Australia has a hybrid health system that mixes public and private, but Duckett said he's not going to move Alberta in that direction.
"Public funding of health services is a core principle of medicare and that, as far as I'm concerned, is not on the agenda," said Duckett, who wrote a 2005 article for the Canadian Medical Association Journal urging Canadians to be wary of allowing significant private-sector development. He argued people without private insurance didn't receive equal care and that government paid more for patients treated in the private sector.
"I'm not coming into this job saying I'm going to privatize everything in sight," he said. "That's not who I am."
Richard Plain, a retired health economist, said it might just be a coincidence that Alberta Health Services found someone from a country where privatization is embraced.
"They have picked an individual who would be intimately aware of all of the possible options that would be available to introduce a mix or a blend of private insurance and a different access to services into the Canadian system."
He said it's astounding the search firm couldn't find someone closer to home.
"It is most unusual that we would have to believe that there was no one in Canada who was capable or willing or both to undertake the overhaul of Alberta's health system," Plain said.
"This is not something I would say would be the type of approach that would instill confidence in the public. It leads to the view that something is seriously flawed that no senior top health administrator in Canada was willing to take this job."
David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, had similar concerns.
"We have lots of health-care expertise here, not only in Canada but in Alberta, that have the clinical experience and the managerial capacity," he said. "Health systems are very specific to geography and culture and realities of each region. Bringing a hired gun in from Australia, I question that."
Duckett said his first task when he begins his job on March 23 is to explore places such as Fort McMurray and Medicine Hat. His goal is to make Alberta Health Services "a shining light within Canada" by providing the highest quality of health services in a transparent way.
"You need to judge us on our performance," he said, noting he won't bring in changes without some buy-in. "You don't say, look, we're just going to ram through this whether you like it or lump it. It's not a good way for a democratic organization to work these days. To some extent, you've got to lead but to some extent, you've got to bring the population with you."
Duckett will be paid $575,000 with a bonus up to 25 per cent for performance, but no supplemental retirement plan. That's far less than the $915,000 made by Sheila Weatherill, the former CEO of Edmonton's health region, or the $1.3 million made by Calgary Health's Jack Davis. Both were laid off during the health restructuring last year.
Hughes said the lower salary, slightly above the $550,000 made by interim president Charlotte Robb, is on par with what other similar Canadian organizations are paying.
"It sets a new tone in Alberta about compensation," Hughes said. "I think it reflects the times. It reflects the role. ... It's really a responsible level of compensation."
He said the lower salary didn't limit the prospective field.
"People realized this is a rare opportunity to make a real difference," Hughes said. "For people who are interested in public service, compensation is the secondary discussion. The first discussion is what's the job and how exciting it is."
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
Stephen Duckett, chief executive of the Centre for Healthcare Improvement for Queensland Health, beat out 140 prospects and a short list of six from Europe, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand to take on the challenging task of heading Alberta's new health organization, already $1.2 billion in debt.
"He is described by people who have worked with him as innovative and as one of -- if not perhaps the leader -- in health care in Australia," said Ken
Hughes, chairman of Alberta Health Services, which was created last year after the province's nine health regions were dismantled and top administrators laid off in an effort to make the system more sustainable and accessible. "It's a fabulous opportunity to provide leadership, not only within Alberta but within Canada. ... He is an agent of change, he is a popular leader, a professor and author."
Duckett, whose wife graduated from the University of Alberta and has a sister in Edmonton, served for two years as deputy minister to the Australian equivalent of Health Canada and has a PhD in health administration. His health experience sets him apart from the health region's board, which was criticized for being largely made up of corporate and business leaders. In Duckett's role in Queensland, he said he improved safety and a leadership culture of cover-ups and bullying by broadening accountability and making safety the core business with all managers and clinicians. He helped hospitals create new care targets, then set up a funding incentive program for fulfilling those targets. Extra money was set aside to encourage doctors to keep operating rooms open on Saturdays and 5,000 staff developed skills in a new leadership program.
Duckett also expanded private delivery of publicly funded services to bring wait times down, similar to what's already happening in Calgary. Australia has a hybrid health system that mixes public and private, but Duckett said he's not going to move Alberta in that direction.
"Public funding of health services is a core principle of medicare and that, as far as I'm concerned, is not on the agenda," said Duckett, who wrote a 2005 article for the Canadian Medical Association Journal urging Canadians to be wary of allowing significant private-sector development. He argued people without private insurance didn't receive equal care and that government paid more for patients treated in the private sector.
"I'm not coming into this job saying I'm going to privatize everything in sight," he said. "That's not who I am."
Richard Plain, a retired health economist, said it might just be a coincidence that Alberta Health Services found someone from a country where privatization is embraced.
"They have picked an individual who would be intimately aware of all of the possible options that would be available to introduce a mix or a blend of private insurance and a different access to services into the Canadian system."
He said it's astounding the search firm couldn't find someone closer to home.
"It is most unusual that we would have to believe that there was no one in Canada who was capable or willing or both to undertake the overhaul of Alberta's health system," Plain said.
"This is not something I would say would be the type of approach that would instill confidence in the public. It leads to the view that something is seriously flawed that no senior top health administrator in Canada was willing to take this job."
David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, had similar concerns.
"We have lots of health-care expertise here, not only in Canada but in Alberta, that have the clinical experience and the managerial capacity," he said. "Health systems are very specific to geography and culture and realities of each region. Bringing a hired gun in from Australia, I question that."
Duckett said his first task when he begins his job on March 23 is to explore places such as Fort McMurray and Medicine Hat. His goal is to make Alberta Health Services "a shining light within Canada" by providing the highest quality of health services in a transparent way.
"You need to judge us on our performance," he said, noting he won't bring in changes without some buy-in. "You don't say, look, we're just going to ram through this whether you like it or lump it. It's not a good way for a democratic organization to work these days. To some extent, you've got to lead but to some extent, you've got to bring the population with you."
Duckett will be paid $575,000 with a bonus up to 25 per cent for performance, but no supplemental retirement plan. That's far less than the $915,000 made by Sheila Weatherill, the former CEO of Edmonton's health region, or the $1.3 million made by Calgary Health's Jack Davis. Both were laid off during the health restructuring last year.
Hughes said the lower salary, slightly above the $550,000 made by interim president Charlotte Robb, is on par with what other similar Canadian organizations are paying.
"It sets a new tone in Alberta about compensation," Hughes said. "I think it reflects the times. It reflects the role. ... It's really a responsible level of compensation."
He said the lower salary didn't limit the prospective field.
"People realized this is a rare opportunity to make a real difference," Hughes said. "For people who are interested in public service, compensation is the secondary discussion. The first discussion is what's the job and how exciting it is."
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
Monday, January 19, 2009
Campaign Organizer Job Posting - Friends of Medicare
Friends of Medicare (FOM)
2009 Campaigner Job Description
Organizing the ground campaign for Friends of Medicare’s spring offensive to reverse the provincial government’s initiatives to delist services, extra bill, allow private clinics and to close public health facilities around the province. Also, our campaign is to develop a vision of what public health care should look like, with input from Albertans across the province.
The FOM Campaigner is accountable to the Alberta FOM provincial board which sets out the direction and responsibilities of the FOM Campaigner.
The FOM Campaigner is responsible for:
building capacity within the Friends of Medicare both within the internal operation of the organization and by increasing the number of supporters, members, and overall engagement of the public for the FOM spring campaign.
increasing the involvement in and capacity of regional FOM chapters and constituency rapid response teams, and connecting these groups with the work of the provincial FOM
raising the overall profile of Friends of Medicare within the general public, media and government circles
creating various opportunities and avenues within the campaigns and activities of Friends of Medicare to put forward examples of alternatives to privatization of health care including innovations and public solutions
focus the spring campaign of FOM on engaging citizens to take action to protect and expand public health care
This is carried out in a number of ways, including but not limited to:
Internal
Initiate and help with fundraising and outreach initiatives such as direct mail
Overall support for the campaigns of FOM
External
Promote the campaigns of FOM through public speaking, presentations to member organizations, facilitation of meetings and workshops and acting as a general resource
Organize public events and press conferences to promote key issues and voices related to FOM campaigns
Identify and engage with health care activists across the province
Engage, support, and build capacity within regional health coalitions
Work to connect campaigns of regional health coalitions to the work of other health coalitions and the overall work of the FOM
Work to increase the overall profile of FOM
General
Work together with other staff and volunteers to share general office tasks and coordinate work schedules
Valid Driver’s License required
Terms of Contract:
February 2nd to July 31st 2009
Remuneration: 25 dollars per hour based on 35 hours per week
Please Submit Resume electronically, by mail, by fax or in person to:
Friends of Medicare Provincial Office
#35 9912 106th Street Edmonton AB
T5K 1C5
fominfo@telus.net
fax: 780 423 4581
Closing date: 5 p.m. January 26th 2009
Please note that only candidates being considered for interviews will be contacted.
Friends of Medicare (FOM)
2009 Campaigner Job Description
Organizing the ground campaign for Friends of Medicare’s spring offensive to reverse the provincial government’s initiatives to delist services, extra bill, allow private clinics and to close public health facilities around the province. Also, our campaign is to develop a vision of what public health care should look like, with input from Albertans across the province.
The FOM Campaigner is accountable to the Alberta FOM provincial board which sets out the direction and responsibilities of the FOM Campaigner.
The FOM Campaigner is responsible for:
building capacity within the Friends of Medicare both within the internal operation of the organization and by increasing the number of supporters, members, and overall engagement of the public for the FOM spring campaign.
increasing the involvement in and capacity of regional FOM chapters and constituency rapid response teams, and connecting these groups with the work of the provincial FOM
raising the overall profile of Friends of Medicare within the general public, media and government circles
creating various opportunities and avenues within the campaigns and activities of Friends of Medicare to put forward examples of alternatives to privatization of health care including innovations and public solutions
focus the spring campaign of FOM on engaging citizens to take action to protect and expand public health care
This is carried out in a number of ways, including but not limited to:
Internal
Initiate and help with fundraising and outreach initiatives such as direct mail
Overall support for the campaigns of FOM
External
Promote the campaigns of FOM through public speaking, presentations to member organizations, facilitation of meetings and workshops and acting as a general resource
Organize public events and press conferences to promote key issues and voices related to FOM campaigns
Identify and engage with health care activists across the province
Engage, support, and build capacity within regional health coalitions
Work to connect campaigns of regional health coalitions to the work of other health coalitions and the overall work of the FOM
Work to increase the overall profile of FOM
General
Work together with other staff and volunteers to share general office tasks and coordinate work schedules
Valid Driver’s License required
Terms of Contract:
February 2nd to July 31st 2009
Remuneration: 25 dollars per hour based on 35 hours per week
Please Submit Resume electronically, by mail, by fax or in person to:
Friends of Medicare Provincial Office
#35 9912 106th Street Edmonton AB
T5K 1C5
fominfo@telus.net
fax: 780 423 4581
Closing date: 5 p.m. January 26th 2009
Please note that only candidates being considered for interviews will be contacted.
Friends of Medicare wants superboard's deficit investigated
When is the last time a government ministry racked up a 1.4 billion dollar deficit? This smells bad. It is convenient that the deficit appears just when the government wants to start hacking away at public health once again. Albertans should ask what sort of bad management would result in such a huge deficit under the watch of the new minister and superboard?
By Trish Audette, edmontonjournal.com January 16, 2009
EDMONTON — The Friends of Medicare is calling on Alberta's auditor general to find out how the province's health super board racked up a deficit of more than $1 billion.
Earlier this week, the board's chairman, Ken Hughes, said the deficit — as high as $1.3-billion — is the result of growing labour and technology costs, and the province's growing and aging population.
The province has long known the new board would bleed red ink after replacing the former nine regional boards and getting rid of top health officials.
"A budget deficit of this magnitude is entirely unacceptable," said David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare. "It speaks to poor management and planning.
"We fear the minister and the superboard are steering us in a direction where we pay more, a lot more, and end up with less."
The organization used a PricewaterhouseCoopers review to peg the board's deficit closer to $1.4-billion or as high as $1.7-billion.
taudette@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
By Trish Audette, edmontonjournal.com January 16, 2009
EDMONTON — The Friends of Medicare is calling on Alberta's auditor general to find out how the province's health super board racked up a deficit of more than $1 billion.
Earlier this week, the board's chairman, Ken Hughes, said the deficit — as high as $1.3-billion — is the result of growing labour and technology costs, and the province's growing and aging population.
The province has long known the new board would bleed red ink after replacing the former nine regional boards and getting rid of top health officials.
"A budget deficit of this magnitude is entirely unacceptable," said David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare. "It speaks to poor management and planning.
"We fear the minister and the superboard are steering us in a direction where we pay more, a lot more, and end up with less."
The organization used a PricewaterhouseCoopers review to peg the board's deficit closer to $1.4-billion or as high as $1.7-billion.
taudette@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Monday, January 12, 2009
Lots of Events!
Friends of Medicare would like to make everyone aware of several special events taking place in the next few weeks. Now that we know some of what the government is intending to do it is important to explain to people what the risks are, and to help to build a stronger and expanded public health system.
January 28th Calgary Knox Centre 506 4th Street SW 7:30 p.m. WAKE ME UP FOR THE TSUNAMI How I learned to stop worrying about medicare and take steps to fix it. Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBCs’ “White Coat, Black Art” will discuss problems in our health care system and ways we can fix it! Presented by the Wm. Irvine Group and the Knox Centre.
Donations gratefully accepted.
Info: 246-9586
January 31st Jasper Emergency Services Building 508 Gelkie Street Saturday 2 p.m. Friends of Medicare Meeting: "Save our Hospitals and Public Health System!"
February 10th Edmonton Stanley Milner Public Library Churchill square 7 p.m. "Edmonton Room" (located downstairs) Friends of Medicare Organizational Meeting. Contact 780 423 45 81
February 12th Calgary Thursday 7:30 p.m. Unitarian Church 1703 1st. Street NW (side entrance from 1st street NW near Centre Street N and 16th ave NW) Friends of Medicare Organizational Meeting. Contact 403 286 9283
January 28th Calgary Knox Centre 506 4th Street SW 7:30 p.m. WAKE ME UP FOR THE TSUNAMI How I learned to stop worrying about medicare and take steps to fix it. Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBCs’ “White Coat, Black Art” will discuss problems in our health care system and ways we can fix it! Presented by the Wm. Irvine Group and the Knox Centre.
Donations gratefully accepted.
Info: 246-9586
January 31st Jasper Emergency Services Building 508 Gelkie Street Saturday 2 p.m. Friends of Medicare Meeting: "Save our Hospitals and Public Health System!"
February 10th Edmonton Stanley Milner Public Library Churchill square 7 p.m. "Edmonton Room" (located downstairs) Friends of Medicare Organizational Meeting. Contact 780 423 45 81
February 12th Calgary Thursday 7:30 p.m. Unitarian Church 1703 1st. Street NW (side entrance from 1st street NW near Centre Street N and 16th ave NW) Friends of Medicare Organizational Meeting. Contact 403 286 9283
Friday, January 2, 2009
Here are some exerpts from an article by Shiela Pratt, published in the Edmonton Journal December 21st. I'm sure it opened a lot people's eyes.
It is becoming clear that Mr. Stelmach is using Mr. Liepert as a "tough guy" front man to advance the government's agenda to de-list services, close hospitals, and extra-bill. It is unlikely Mr. Liepert is acting on his own initiative, but if he is then Mr. Stelmach's first job for 2009 should be to reign him in! Albertans want public health improved, not sold off in pieces to the private for-profit health industry. In targetting senior's health, Friends of Medicare finds the government's first moves in this direction particularly offensive and cynical.
Tough Medicine
Ron Liepert, the tough guy from Calgary West, doesn't have much time for the usual give and take of political life.
"You assess the pros and cons and make a bloody decision," says the ambitious new minister of health.
That's how he's been running Alberta's Health Ministry for the last 12 months -- abolishing regional health authorities, firing CEOs, hiring business executives to run the $8-billion system, ending universal drug coverage for seniors,
expanding home care, moving more seniors care to the private sector.
All this with barely a shred of consultation with the public or the health-care community. And he's unapologetic about it.
"Ralph Klein did all sorts of consultations," he says. "How much success did they have? How much did health care change under Ralph Klein? So why would we follow the same path he did and get the same results?"
Ron Liepert has certainly carved his own path in the last two years. With a meteoric rise from rookie backbencher to top cabinet post, he's become a key player in Ed Stelmach's cabinet and the most prominent public face in a government with a reputation for bland and low-key.
A Saskatchewan farm boy with a pragmatic streak and a notoriously short fuse, the 59-year-old Liepert has no time for the "negative" whiners on the opposition benches. He grew up poor, didn't finish high school and has always been a fighter, a trait that helped him make the journey into the ranks of the province's political elite.
Decisive and confident, Liepert is moving swiftly on many fronts with health reform: introducing competition in private clinics; defining a new role for under-used rural hospitals; and expanding the duties of paramedics.
But he won't talk about the big picture, where the system will end up. He figures he'll succeed where his predecessors have failed by rolling things out piece by piece.
The Tory caucus gives a quick stamp of approval to Liepert's policies before he announces them. Sources say Tory MLAs give him high marks for getting things done even if it's not in the most politically sensitive way. (No MLA in the Edmonton caucus will discuss the issue publicly).
A year later, as health minister, he startled everyone by announcing Albertans had voted for change in health care in the March 2008 election, even though health-care reform wasn't mentioned in the campaign. (Stelmach said the Third Way was "DOA" -- dead on arrival). Shortly after, Liepert shook up Edmonton by dismantling Capital Health and firing its highly regarded CEO, Sheila Weatherill.
This summer, he ignored his own Health Ministry and abruptly cancelled an awareness campaign about the spread of syphilis, even though an internal report showed the disease was moving into the general population.
...this fall, Liepert recruited a group of business executives from the oilsands, engineering companies, banking, accounting and legal firms for his new health-services board. That included highly successful Edmonton CEO Tony Franceschini, founder of Stantec.
"I want to trust the Tony Franceschinis who have had way more experience running $8-billion corporations than I have," Liepert says.
Handing traditional public works to the private sector is a hallmark of the Stelmach government.
For a politician with media roots, Liepert has surprisingly low regard for the press in politics. That's perhaps only rivalled by his disdain for the opposition. Both, he says, are just too negative.
Take, for instance, the scrum on Thursday, Nov. 23, the day Liepert announced the members of the new Health Services Board.
It was 1:30 p.m. and Liepert was heading into the legislature for question period. A CTV reporter stepped up and asked about a potential conflict of interest over the appointment of Franceschini to the health-services board -- an issue raised initially by the NDP, who noted that Stantec has major contracts for hospital construction with the health department.
Liepert rolled his eyes, refused to answer and walked away muttering "give me a break." So why not just answer the question?
"Well, (the reporter) is some guy I don't even know and the first thing he asks me is some negative question ... about someone who has accomplished more in his lifetime than the whole pack of media guys are ever going to accomplish in their lifetime. And it offends me, so I'm not going to give the guy the time of day."
He's equally dismissive of the NDP for raising the question.
"Screw the NDP, we got our majority," he adds.
"I'm way more combative than Lougheed ever was," he admits.
But Lougheed never really had an opposition, adds Liepert.
In the house, he doesn't hesitate to hit below the belt, accusing former Kevin Taft, for instance, of never having a real job -- an accusation full of irony, given that Liepert, like the former Liberal leader, has run his own consulting firm and worked in government.
Dave Eggen, a former New Democrat MLA, now runs Friends of Medicare. When Liberal health critic Hugh MacDonald asked Liepert why he hadn't appointed anyone from the health consumer side to the health-services board, Liepert ignored conventions of confidentiality and shot back that Eggen had applied but was found not to be a suitable candidate.
Eggen was taken aback at the revelation and demanded an apology for the breach of confidentiality. He didn't get it, but he wasn't too surprised.
As education critic, Eggen had sparred with Liepert. At times it was jocular, and other times antagonistic and bullying.
"He's got the confidence to make tough decisions, but he needs people on-side," Eggen says. "This is a huge public entity."
The trouble is, Liepert approaches his job with an assumption that he's "unassailable" thanks to the massive Conservative majority, so he sees no need to bring together all kinds of opinions or consult other groups in carrying out reform, Eggen says.
"The health system needs reforming, but I fear what Liepert has in mind is a hijacking of the system. There's lots of money to be made in private delivery."
It's unclear how much of this reform agenda is Liepert's alone and how much is Stelmach's. It's certainly a convenient good-cop, bad-cop political partnership. Liepert is out front and will take the flak if the public starts to resist. Stelmach, who needed a tough guy from Calgary to shake up health care, can decide when to step in and play the hero. That's how it worked with the teachers' pension issue.
Liepert insists the caucus fully supports his moves. Certainly, if Edmonton Tory MLAs felt any heat when Liepert abolished Capital Health last summer, they're not talking about it. Though there's been some fence-mending since, there were rumblings last summer that this episode did as much damage in Edmonton as the royalty increase did in Calgary.
Heather Smith, president of the nurses' union, says it would be a mistake to view this as solely Liepert's agenda. It's a continuation of the Klein agenda "by covert operations," she charges.
Albertans will wake up to find the "Third Way" of two-tier medicine, rejected by the Tory caucus in 2006, is taking shape. If that's the case -- and Liepert rejects that notion -- there could be political battles ahead.
It is becoming clear that Mr. Stelmach is using Mr. Liepert as a "tough guy" front man to advance the government's agenda to de-list services, close hospitals, and extra-bill. It is unlikely Mr. Liepert is acting on his own initiative, but if he is then Mr. Stelmach's first job for 2009 should be to reign him in! Albertans want public health improved, not sold off in pieces to the private for-profit health industry. In targetting senior's health, Friends of Medicare finds the government's first moves in this direction particularly offensive and cynical.
Tough Medicine
Ron Liepert, the tough guy from Calgary West, doesn't have much time for the usual give and take of political life.
"You assess the pros and cons and make a bloody decision," says the ambitious new minister of health.
That's how he's been running Alberta's Health Ministry for the last 12 months -- abolishing regional health authorities, firing CEOs, hiring business executives to run the $8-billion system, ending universal drug coverage for seniors,
expanding home care, moving more seniors care to the private sector.
All this with barely a shred of consultation with the public or the health-care community. And he's unapologetic about it.
"Ralph Klein did all sorts of consultations," he says. "How much success did they have? How much did health care change under Ralph Klein? So why would we follow the same path he did and get the same results?"
Ron Liepert has certainly carved his own path in the last two years. With a meteoric rise from rookie backbencher to top cabinet post, he's become a key player in Ed Stelmach's cabinet and the most prominent public face in a government with a reputation for bland and low-key.
A Saskatchewan farm boy with a pragmatic streak and a notoriously short fuse, the 59-year-old Liepert has no time for the "negative" whiners on the opposition benches. He grew up poor, didn't finish high school and has always been a fighter, a trait that helped him make the journey into the ranks of the province's political elite.
Decisive and confident, Liepert is moving swiftly on many fronts with health reform: introducing competition in private clinics; defining a new role for under-used rural hospitals; and expanding the duties of paramedics.
But he won't talk about the big picture, where the system will end up. He figures he'll succeed where his predecessors have failed by rolling things out piece by piece.
The Tory caucus gives a quick stamp of approval to Liepert's policies before he announces them. Sources say Tory MLAs give him high marks for getting things done even if it's not in the most politically sensitive way. (No MLA in the Edmonton caucus will discuss the issue publicly).
A year later, as health minister, he startled everyone by announcing Albertans had voted for change in health care in the March 2008 election, even though health-care reform wasn't mentioned in the campaign. (Stelmach said the Third Way was "DOA" -- dead on arrival). Shortly after, Liepert shook up Edmonton by dismantling Capital Health and firing its highly regarded CEO, Sheila Weatherill.
This summer, he ignored his own Health Ministry and abruptly cancelled an awareness campaign about the spread of syphilis, even though an internal report showed the disease was moving into the general population.
...this fall, Liepert recruited a group of business executives from the oilsands, engineering companies, banking, accounting and legal firms for his new health-services board. That included highly successful Edmonton CEO Tony Franceschini, founder of Stantec.
"I want to trust the Tony Franceschinis who have had way more experience running $8-billion corporations than I have," Liepert says.
Handing traditional public works to the private sector is a hallmark of the Stelmach government.
For a politician with media roots, Liepert has surprisingly low regard for the press in politics. That's perhaps only rivalled by his disdain for the opposition. Both, he says, are just too negative.
Take, for instance, the scrum on Thursday, Nov. 23, the day Liepert announced the members of the new Health Services Board.
It was 1:30 p.m. and Liepert was heading into the legislature for question period. A CTV reporter stepped up and asked about a potential conflict of interest over the appointment of Franceschini to the health-services board -- an issue raised initially by the NDP, who noted that Stantec has major contracts for hospital construction with the health department.
Liepert rolled his eyes, refused to answer and walked away muttering "give me a break." So why not just answer the question?
"Well, (the reporter) is some guy I don't even know and the first thing he asks me is some negative question ... about someone who has accomplished more in his lifetime than the whole pack of media guys are ever going to accomplish in their lifetime. And it offends me, so I'm not going to give the guy the time of day."
He's equally dismissive of the NDP for raising the question.
"Screw the NDP, we got our majority," he adds.
"I'm way more combative than Lougheed ever was," he admits.
But Lougheed never really had an opposition, adds Liepert.
In the house, he doesn't hesitate to hit below the belt, accusing former Kevin Taft, for instance, of never having a real job -- an accusation full of irony, given that Liepert, like the former Liberal leader, has run his own consulting firm and worked in government.
Dave Eggen, a former New Democrat MLA, now runs Friends of Medicare. When Liberal health critic Hugh MacDonald asked Liepert why he hadn't appointed anyone from the health consumer side to the health-services board, Liepert ignored conventions of confidentiality and shot back that Eggen had applied but was found not to be a suitable candidate.
Eggen was taken aback at the revelation and demanded an apology for the breach of confidentiality. He didn't get it, but he wasn't too surprised.
As education critic, Eggen had sparred with Liepert. At times it was jocular, and other times antagonistic and bullying.
"He's got the confidence to make tough decisions, but he needs people on-side," Eggen says. "This is a huge public entity."
The trouble is, Liepert approaches his job with an assumption that he's "unassailable" thanks to the massive Conservative majority, so he sees no need to bring together all kinds of opinions or consult other groups in carrying out reform, Eggen says.
"The health system needs reforming, but I fear what Liepert has in mind is a hijacking of the system. There's lots of money to be made in private delivery."
It's unclear how much of this reform agenda is Liepert's alone and how much is Stelmach's. It's certainly a convenient good-cop, bad-cop political partnership. Liepert is out front and will take the flak if the public starts to resist. Stelmach, who needed a tough guy from Calgary to shake up health care, can decide when to step in and play the hero. That's how it worked with the teachers' pension issue.
Liepert insists the caucus fully supports his moves. Certainly, if Edmonton Tory MLAs felt any heat when Liepert abolished Capital Health last summer, they're not talking about it. Though there's been some fence-mending since, there were rumblings last summer that this episode did as much damage in Edmonton as the royalty increase did in Calgary.
Heather Smith, president of the nurses' union, says it would be a mistake to view this as solely Liepert's agenda. It's a continuation of the Klein agenda "by covert operations," she charges.
Albertans will wake up to find the "Third Way" of two-tier medicine, rejected by the Tory caucus in 2006, is taking shape. If that's the case -- and Liepert rejects that notion -- there could be political battles ahead.
Buying cigarettes more difficult in 2009
January 01, 2009 - 9:00 am Kelly Turner
AdSpot("660news","homepage",8,250,250);
If you think it's a bit odd that you can still buy cigarettes at a place you can get healthy, the province agrees.
As of today you will no longer be able to buy tobacco products at any store that has a pharmacy, as well as Colleges and Universities.
The Friends of Medicare's Dave Eggen tells 660News, they support any effort aimed at reducing tobacco-related illnesses.
Alberta's Tobacco Reduction Act is now complete, after earlier phases saw smoking banned at work and limits being placed on tobacco advertising.
January 01, 2009 - 9:00 am Kelly Turner
AdSpot("660news","homepage",8,250,250);
If you think it's a bit odd that you can still buy cigarettes at a place you can get healthy, the province agrees.
As of today you will no longer be able to buy tobacco products at any store that has a pharmacy, as well as Colleges and Universities.
The Friends of Medicare's Dave Eggen tells 660News, they support any effort aimed at reducing tobacco-related illnesses.
Alberta's Tobacco Reduction Act is now complete, after earlier phases saw smoking banned at work and limits being placed on tobacco advertising.
Friends of Medicare gets results on artificial limb file
Certainly I have never seen such fast change of policy by this government! On December 16th Friends of Medicare forwarded a Blue Cross "Benefact" bulletin to the Edmonton Journal stating that as of December 1st, seniors would have to pay for prosthetic, orthotic, mastectomy prothesis and eye prosthesis, or submit for claims based on a means test. One day after the story appeared, the government changed this policy so that prosthetics would be covered after all! Thanks to Calgary Orthotist Ken Moghadam who identified this change of policy to us.
Senior's health seems to be an early target of this government in their quest for extra-billing, the de-listing of services and the expansion of private for-profit medicine. Score one victory for public health care! Albertans know they are better off with public health care - how come Mr. Stelmach is the last one to figure this out? Here is the Edmonton Journal article from December 18th:
EDMONTON - The Alberta government said Thursday that it is not planning to charge disabled seniors for artificial limbs after all and that it was all a big mistake.
Sonia Maryn, a spokeswoman for Alberta Seniors and Community Supports, said the government never planned to start charging seniors a percentage of the cost of the devices they now get for free, but sent out the wrong information to providers of the services last week and failed to correct it Wednesday when contacted by The Journal.
“We provided you with wrong information,” she said. “Seniors will continue to be covered. There will be no cost-sharing.”
She said a bulletin sent out to orthotists and prosthetists last week contained “wrong information” when it suggested new patients over 65 would be required to pay 25 per cent of the cost of braces, limbs, mastectomy prostheses and eye prostheses - up to $500 annually.
“We really do need to apologize,” Maryn said.
“There was an awful lot of information. There was one piece that made it way incorrectly out the door.”
She said Seniors and Community Supports Minister Mary Anne Jablonski is fully committed to supporting seniors in need.
“By no means is she intending to take away orthotics or prosthetics,” she said. “It’s really regrettable.”
On Thursday morning, irate seniors began calling Alberta Health, which was previously responsible for program, to express their concern about the change in policy.
Orthotist David Mueller said he received an e-mail from Alberta Seniors today suggesting there had been a “miscommunication.”
“It sounds like they have done a complete reversal since you wrote this article,” he said. "They clearly made some lines in the sand and now they have erased those lines."
Clare Botsford, 86, said she couldn’t believe the government would charge disabled seniors for necessary medical devices.
“People who voted Tory should be ashamed of themselves,” she said. “It’s just so sneaky and underhanded. It’s hard to believe.”
Irene Payne, 79, said she is convinced the government was planning to charge seniors until the story broke in the newspaper.
"They must have got a lot of calls," she said. "I phoned a couple of my friends and they were just fuming."
Certainly I have never seen such fast change of policy by this government! On December 16th Friends of Medicare forwarded a Blue Cross "Benefact" bulletin to the Edmonton Journal stating that as of December 1st, seniors would have to pay for prosthetic, orthotic, mastectomy prothesis and eye prosthesis, or submit for claims based on a means test. One day after the story appeared, the government changed this policy so that prosthetics would be covered after all! Thanks to Calgary Orthotist Ken Moghadam who identified this change of policy to us.
Senior's health seems to be an early target of this government in their quest for extra-billing, the de-listing of services and the expansion of private for-profit medicine. Score one victory for public health care! Albertans know they are better off with public health care - how come Mr. Stelmach is the last one to figure this out? Here is the Edmonton Journal article from December 18th:
EDMONTON - The Alberta government said Thursday that it is not planning to charge disabled seniors for artificial limbs after all and that it was all a big mistake.
Sonia Maryn, a spokeswoman for Alberta Seniors and Community Supports, said the government never planned to start charging seniors a percentage of the cost of the devices they now get for free, but sent out the wrong information to providers of the services last week and failed to correct it Wednesday when contacted by The Journal.
“We provided you with wrong information,” she said. “Seniors will continue to be covered. There will be no cost-sharing.”
She said a bulletin sent out to orthotists and prosthetists last week contained “wrong information” when it suggested new patients over 65 would be required to pay 25 per cent of the cost of braces, limbs, mastectomy prostheses and eye prostheses - up to $500 annually.
“We really do need to apologize,” Maryn said.
“There was an awful lot of information. There was one piece that made it way incorrectly out the door.”
She said Seniors and Community Supports Minister Mary Anne Jablonski is fully committed to supporting seniors in need.
“By no means is she intending to take away orthotics or prosthetics,” she said. “It’s really regrettable.”
On Thursday morning, irate seniors began calling Alberta Health, which was previously responsible for program, to express their concern about the change in policy.
Orthotist David Mueller said he received an e-mail from Alberta Seniors today suggesting there had been a “miscommunication.”
“It sounds like they have done a complete reversal since you wrote this article,” he said. "They clearly made some lines in the sand and now they have erased those lines."
Clare Botsford, 86, said she couldn’t believe the government would charge disabled seniors for necessary medical devices.
“People who voted Tory should be ashamed of themselves,” she said. “It’s just so sneaky and underhanded. It’s hard to believe.”
Irene Payne, 79, said she is convinced the government was planning to charge seniors until the story broke in the newspaper.
"They must have got a lot of calls," she said. "I phoned a couple of my friends and they were just fuming."
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