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AHS Health Purchasing Agreement
July 25, 2009 - 06:14am MST |
lberta Health Services’ new joint agreement to purchase health supplies in bulk with British Columbia will send hundreds of millions of Alberta taxpayer dollars to Ontario, says Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Doug Knight.
The new agreement announced yesterday will see the two provinces purchase $750 million to $1 billion worth of health supplies annually through Ontario-based HealthPro Procurement Services Inc. Knight said bulk purchasing is a good concept, but is being implemented the wrong way.
“New Zealand’s experience has proven that bulk purchasing drugs does dramatically reduce those costs, but they have also shown that you need a crown corporation to cut out the middle man and negotiate the best deal,” Knight said.
“Alberta Health Services has just consolidated all the health regions, so they should be able to do this work in house and achieve even greater savings,” he added.
Knight pointed out that HealthPro’s profits will eat into the savings earned through bulk purchasing, and will also reduce the transparency of the health care system.
“Because a private company is handling the buying, we won’t be able to see how much we really could be saving if we used the same approach within the public system,” Knight said.
“After complaining for so many years about all the money we send to Ontario and how little comes back to Alberta, the government is sending up to half a billion Alberta taxpayer dollars to a private Ontario-based company. One has to shake their head,” Knight concluded.
For more information contact:
Doug Knight, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301, 780-265-6655 (cellular phone)
Mark Wells, Communications Officer, AUPE, 780-930-3406 |
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