[Sunnyways]

There are an awful lot of unanswered questions here and it’s striking how many of the major players refused to talk to the CBC about it. We may find out eventually that this turned out to be a gold mine for a few well-connected people. Even just the remarks that the contract will be ‘punitive’ for government to cancel should be worrying.

[bootlegga]

uwish uwish:

if you are claiming the government does it better than private industry, ask Spacex and NASA how that is working out.

If I have to choose between AHS and Kaiser Permanente, I'll choose the government over the private sector every freaking day and twice on Sunday.

[Thanos]

If it's proposed by the UCP it'll be an epic disaster and boondoggle. Watch the alleged $200 million cost turn into a couple of billion worth of taxpayer dollars, the same amount they want to cut physician compensation by, that disappears south of the border into the accounts of some private insurance corporation.

When they're done the UCP will have superceded the Klein government on the amount of money they've lost and the amount of social destruction they've caused. Guaranteed.

[DrCaleb]

uwish uwish:

They get paid by surgery, and their compensation is mandated by the government on a fixed scale. Just because the hospital is private doesn't mean they can charge more, nor perform more surgeries than they are currently.

Did you read the article?

$1:

CBC News obtained a recording from one of three presentations the group made to surgeons from the Edmonton region. For the proposal to be viable, the group needs the support of most of the region's 46 orthopedic surgeons.

$1:

"The design of the contract would be such that it becomes financially very, very punitive for the government to rip it up," McKee said, assuring the surgeons that it would not cost them any money if a future government ended the contract.

In order to make the new facility viable, they will have to force all regional surgeons under one roof, and get the government to sign an agreement that would be financially punitive to break.

Doesn't sound like this facility is financially viable otherwise. Doesn't sound like free enterprise either.

[uwish]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

There is no need for a giant hospital to do the same thing, propped up by my tax money, so that surgeons can drive Bentlys instead of BMWs.

The surgeons will not get paid any more than they currently are. That is a set rate scale mandated by the province.

[DrCaleb]

uwish uwish:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

There is no need for a giant hospital to do the same thing, propped up by my tax money, so that surgeons can drive Bentlys instead of BMWs.

The surgeons will not get paid any more than they currently are. That is a set rate scale mandated by the province.

I wish I had your crystal ball that tells you how a contract that hasn't been written yet will be awarded.

[uwish]

the doctors won't benefit, they won't make more their fee's are set and a matter of public record. This contract for a hospital will not change that.

[Sunnyways]

uwish uwish:

the doctors won't benefit, they won't make more their fee's are set and a matter of public record. This contract for a hospital will not change that.

The fee schedule may not change but I suspect the total bill for services provided will go up as procedures will probably increase considerably. Office expenses may also be altered in a way that favours physicians. One good thing seems to be that this will be a comprehensive solution for orthopaedic care in the region rather than a cherry-picking exercise of the easier stuff. Where will fractures needing orthopedic procedures be managed?

Anyway, a bigger concern right now is not the practising doctors but the other guys involved in this project. Will all the benefits they receive be made public? Our great Canadian system can be quite opaque in these matters.

[Thanos]

The UCP already unilaterally tore up a contract with doctors. There's no contract in this province right now that's safe with those reckless renegades controlling the government. Any contract that favours them will, of course, be considered inviolable. All the others though? Just send them to the document shredders right now because they're all as good as null and void.