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Alta Set for Major House Cleaning of Health Administrators, Says Minister

Posted on: Friday, 20 June 2008, 21:00 CDT

By James Stevenson, THE CANADIAN PRESS

CALGARY - Alberta is poised to get rid of some of its senior - and costly - health-care administrators with a major 'streamlining' of the system just weeks away, Health Minister Ron Liepert said Friday.

Liepert said he expected to make changes to the top echelons of Alberta's $13-billion per-year health system by mid-July, after the Calgary Stampede.

"I would suggest that when we're finished 'Yahooing,' you'll have seen the announcements," Liepert said as he provided a three-month update on Alberta's health-care reforms.

One month ago, Liepert announced plans to dissolve the province's nine existing regional health boards into one new super board. Those who were in charge of running those old boards have been in limbo since.

Earlier this week, he announced that interim CEO of the new provincial health board, Charlotte Rob, will be paid a total salary of $550,000.

That's a significant discount to the $1 million currently being paid annually to Calgary Health Region CEO Jack Davis and the $900,000 in salary and benefits paid to Edmonton's Capital Health CEO Sheila Weatherhill.

Government members have been grumbling for years about the multi-million dollar salaries and benefits the province had been doling out to the heads of Alberta's two busiest health regions, as well as the dozens of public health care executives earning between $250,000 and $400,000 yearly.

Liepert said Friday that Albertans should view the coming changes as "strictly streamlining the administration," rather than cuts to the system.

"Sometime within the first week or two of July, the board will be in the position to make public what that new administration will look like," he told reporters.

"And there are likely people who are working at the senior administration level today who won't be in the system in the future."

The health minister refused to specify who will be affected by the changes.

Alberta Liberal health critic Dave Taylor said details of the health reforms continue to come out in "dribs and drabs" and have done little to improve emergency wait times or critical doctor shortages.

Taylor questioned why the health minister would warn of major job cuts coming to health administrators and then wait two or three more weeks to actually do it.

"He seems to have a habit of saying more than he really meant to say and then pulling back," he said.

"I think what we need to watch out for is that it's actually a more efficient and more effective administration system when he's done. Because you can just shuffle the deck chairs around on the Titanic and not make much of a difference at all."

Also on Friday, Alberta appointed two new interim senior public health officials to fill the gap of three public health doctors who are leaving over a salary dispute.

Dr. Gerry Predy of Edmonton will become the province's chief medical health officer while Dr. Richard Musto of Calgary will become deputy chief medical health officer.

Liepert said an ongoing search for a permanent chief medical officer will continue.

"This is a profession that is in high demand across the country, so we will be continuously recruiting public health officials." And the minister said he was confident the province could offer enough cash to attract good candidates.

Predy and Musto will work with doctors Karen Grimsrud, Gloria Keays and Ameeta Singh for now and take over from them when their contracts expire later this summer.

The Alberta Medical Association has said the departure of the three public health officers would leave patients vulnerable.

Source: Canadian Press

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