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Yorkton This Week Wed May 20 2015

New legislation introduced will give patients the ability to choose to pay privately for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan in Saskatchewan. "Reducing wait times and giving patients more choice over their own care decisions is a high priority for the people of Saskatchewan," Health Minister Dustin Duncan said. "Wait times for many services are still too long. Our government is committed to moving forward with new and innovative solutions to barriers that prevent the very best in patient access and satisfaction."

The new legislation will allow for the creation of regulations that will require private clinics to provide a second scan to a patient on the public wait list at no charge every time a scan is provided to someone who chooses to pay for their own MRI. A physician referral will still be required to obtain an MRI scan. This arrangement is similar to agreements that are in place that allow for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Worker's Compensation Board (WCB) to purchase MRI scans. In both agreements, the Roughriders and the WCB pay for an additional scan for a patient on the public wait list. "The requirement for a private clinic to cover a second scan on the public wait list will increase fairness and access," Duncan said. "We are once again leading the way with an innovative, made-in-Saskatchewan approach to reducing wait times." Following passage of the Act and the establishment of regulations, private-pay MRI services could be offered in existing private MRI facilities as early as the spring of 2016. This model will be evaluated after one year in order to ensure it is meeting the goals of improving access to safe, high quality care.

Discussion: An overall difference of approximately three work weeks in disability duration may have meaningful clinical and quality-of-life implications for injured workers. However, minimal differences in expedited surgical wait times by private clinics versus public hospitals, and small differences in return-to-work outcomes favouring the public hospital group, suggest that a future economic evaluation of workers' compensation policies related to surgical setting is warranted.

In 2004, for example, WorkSafeBC (the workers' compensation system in British Columbia) paid almost 375% more ($3,222) for an expedited knee surgery performed in a private clinic than for a non-expedited knee procedure in a public hospital ($859) (both fees represent the aggregation of facility, surgical and anaesthetists' fees)

Workers injured on the job hold the Ontario government responsible for severe WSIB cuts.   The Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups will picket the Ministry of Labour in the weeks leading up to June 1st, Injured Workers Day. Unions including the UFCW, CUPE, USWA, and OPSEU will also be present to join in the demand that the Wynne government take immediate action to stop the sweeping and harmful changes taking place at the WSIB. Come add your voice: 12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM Ministry of Labour 400 University Ave. Pickets on May 9th, May 16th and May 23rd

Sep 10, 2015

Troy Winters | CUPE Health & Safety On June 30, 2015, the Manitoba government passed Bill 35 which amends the Workers Compensation Act to recognize post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a work-related occupational disease. This law follows a similar change in Alberta that provides presumptive Workers Compensation coverage of PTSD for first responders.

Sep 10, 2015

On June 30, 2015, the Manitoba government passed Bill 35 which amends the Workers Compensation Act to recognize post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a work-related occupational disease. This law follows a similar change in Alberta that provides presumptive Workers Compensation coverage of PTSD for first responders.

June 14th, 2015 · Dr. Vanessa Brcic · 1 Comment · Health care, Privatization, P3s & public services

Koehoorn et al. studied cost of care and return-to-work time for 1380 WCB patients in BC who received privately funded and public services for knee surgery, and found that expedited, privately funded care was more expensive and did not improve return to work times – patients receiving care in the public system did marginally better for a fraction of the cost.[1]

Terry Lake says provincial government is open to ideas to stop attacks on nurses, doctors, health professionals  By Pamela Fayerman, Vancouver Sun April 7, 2015

Health minister Terry Lake said Tuesday that violence against health professionals should not be deemed “just part of the job” and the government is willing to listen to all suggestions on ways to make hospitals and other facilities safer for those who work in them.Lake made the comments in an interview after giving a short speech at the Summit to Prevent Workplace Violence in Health Care, held in Richmond and closed to the media and public. Among others, it was attended by those working in the health field, employers, government representatives, and health unions.

“We can’t accept that violence is part of the job,” he said. “It’s a huge challenge and we’ve got lots of work to do. So we’re listening to unions and all others.”

Charlottetown – “After 14 months of bargaining, conciliation and bargaining again, the CUPE Provincial Health Council and Health PEI were able to reach a tentative collective agreement on October 29, 2014, which our members today have overwhelming supported and ratified”, says Bill McKinnon, National Representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

This deal is a four year agreement expiring on March 31st, 2017 with wage adjustments over the four years totalling 8%. We were also able to obtain Maternity and Parental benefit top up, vacation improvements, as well as language surrounding wage continuation for members awaiting a decision on WCB claims, representing some of the more significant changes. Overall, it is a fair and reasonable settlement considering the economic realities in our world today”, concluded McKinnon.