安大略省省长道格福特政府正准备大幅增加在私营营利性诊所进行的手术数量。
一位不愿透露姓名的高级政府官员表示，福特和卫生部长西尔维亚琼斯计划下周宣布扩大在医院以外的独立医疗机构进行手术的数量和范围，因为他们正在制定政府计划.
这位官员表示，对于安大略省的患者，此举将使每年可以增加进行数千次手术和诊断程序，这是减少白内障摘除等手术等待时间的最快捷的方法。
独立医疗机构是由私营部门运营的诊所，它们从安大略省健康保险计划 (OHIP) 获得公共资金来执行必要的医疗程序。 但各种医疗保健专业人士担心，此举会耗尽公立医院的资源，并在不改善患者护理的情况下使私营诊所的所有者受益。
福特认为，这些中心不会从医院夺走资源，因为它们将配备“同样的医生在业余时间工作”。
更多详情请参考CBC原文报道：
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is preparing to significantly ramp up the number of surgeries done in privately run for-profit clinics.
Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones are planning to make an announcement next week on expanding the number and range of surgeries performed in independent health facilities outside of hospitals, said a senior government official, who asked not to be named because they were laying out government plans.
For Ontario patients, the official says the move will lead to thousands more surgeries and diagnostic procedures performed each year, an immediate way to reduce wait times for such operations as cataract removals.
Independent health facilities are clinics operated by the private sector that receive public funding from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to perform medically necessary procedures.
But various health-care professionals are concerned that the move would drain resources from publicly funded hospitals and benefit the owners of private-sector clinics without improving patient care.
The agency that regulates doctors in the province, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, says it was not informed of the government’s plans to implement the changes.
“Many months ago, we were consulted and shared our opinion that stand-alone surgical centres need to be connected to the hospital system to ensure continuity of care and patient safety,” said college registrar Dr. Nancy Whitmore in a statement .
“We also shared that this wasn’t the solution to the health-care crisis and would further tax our health human resources shortages and further increase wait times for more urgent hospital-based care.”
The government will give “very careful consideration” to ensure the plan does not affect hospitals’ abilities to retain staff, said the senior official.
“We need to do this in a way that does not cannibalize existing health human resources in the hospital system,” the official said. “Independent health facilities have told us that they can do more within their own staff complement. They just don’t have the approval or the funding.”
