Manitoba's PC government eyes private MRIs as a wait-time fix

Manitobansmay be able to pay for an MRI or CT scan after the provincial government completes a review of wait times in the health-care system.

Manitoba Health MinisterKelvinGoertzenwas in Saskatchewan last week to meet with provincial health officials and review some of that province's best practices. He said Saskatchewan'sexperience with privatelyoffered magnetic resonance imaging testsis "interesting" and won't rule it out for Manitoba.

Manitoba's PC government eyes private MRIs as a wait-time fix

8 years ago

Duration 1:44

Manitobans may be able to pay for an MRI or CT scan after the provincial government completes a review of wait times in the health-care system.

"We want to do the analysis. We want to see if it works in the Manitoba context what would work in Manitoba? But we are not in a position to start taking things off the table,"Goertzentold CBC News.

• Private MRI service launches at 2 Saskatchewan clinics
• Saskatchewan to allow more private MRI scans for paying customers

InMarch 2015, the Saskatchewan government licensed two private clinics to offer MRI tests for a fee. Under the agreement, the clinics can accept a fee from one patient and then must offer a free MRI to a person waiting in the queue in the public health system.

The average wait time for an MRI in Manitoba for a non-emergency diagnosis is 23 weeks. Theaverage wait for an MRIat theBrandon Regional Health Centre is 11weeks, according to updated numbers provided by the provincial government on Wednesday.

• Manitoba Health wait times

Goertzen saidany ideas that might create better health-care outcomes for Manitobanshas to be considered when the Progressive Conservative government launches its wait-time task force later this fall or in early 2017.

Thefuture of healthcare in Manitoba and across Canada faces a severe economic test to come as costs rise and babyboomers require more services, Goertzen added.

"When I look at the expenditures and the realities of health, and knowing that within15 years we could have only two departments in government if we continue to go the way it is finance and health we have to look at different options and not to take options off the table," he said.

The issueof privatizingsome parts of the health-care system briefly flared up during the springelection, when then-PC candidateBrian Pallisterwas vague about where he thought privatecare may be appropriate.

• Manitoba election: PC leader's health-care privatization remarks under fire

'American-style' system

New Democratic Party health critic Matt Wiebe saidprivate MRIs are the beginning of a slippery slope for health-care delivery.

"Clearly the [Progressive]Conservativesare willing to consider a two-tier, American-style health-care system and bring that here to Manitoba.And frankly,we haven't seen the evidence, even in Saskatchewan, where they've moved to that system,that the results are there," Wiebe said.

The NDP believes more MRI units, such as a new one for Winnipeg'sChildren's Hospital, is a better choice thana public-private model.

"Manitoba needs to invest in the public health-care system," Wiebe said."That's how we will reduce the wait times."

Evidence is scarce

There is little or no data to go on when trying to determine if private diagnostic services alleviatewait times.

Dr. Alan Katz, theDirector of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, said no one has looked closely at private MRIs and waiting lists.

"Is there evidence that MRI rates come down when you introducea private clinic? No, there isn't. The only similar evidence is actually Manitoba evidence around cataractsurgery," Katz said.

In the case of cataract surgery,Katz saidthe wait-lists were longand surgeons working in the publicsystem began doing the proceduresat private clinics.

"In fact, the wait-lists did not come down, and the wait lists of the specific surgeons who were doing the private surgeries, theirpublic wait lists actually went up," Katz said.

In many cases the problems in the system arenot about facilities and funding, but people, Katz said, adding thattechnical staff and doctors who leave the public system to workin the private system leave a gap behind.

He said Saskatchewan's move to private MRI testing is nothing less than an experiment.

"They are instituting it, but really it's an actual experiment and time will tell what the actual impact is on wait times," Katz said.

Goertzen saidany decisionswill first consider all of these questions and have data to back them up.