Backgrounder on Private MRI and CT Clinics
Timelines....In June, Clement announced the provincial conservative government's intention to privatize key diagnostic services by creating 25 for-profit MRI and CT clinics across Ontario. Foreign and domestic for-profit corporations will bid for these clinics this fall. Deals are to be signed by the new year, according to Clement.
Threat to Medicare....Non-profit hospital services are a cornerstone of Medicare. Clement's announcement was a serious signal of the Conservatives' intent to Americanize our entire health system -- including establishing corporate control and profit-seeking in hospitals.
Create a crisis then privatize.... After spending the $60 million diagnostic equipment fund transfered from the federal government last year on beds, bathtubs and other subsidies for for-profit long corporations who would have bought these items anyway, Clement is now using the waiting lists for MRIs and CTs as a reason to promote his "privatize everything" ideology. The conclusion of our report is clear: if we fund the hospital MRI & CT clinics and deal with staffing issues so that we can increase the hours of operation of current scanners and place new scanners in hospitals, we can reduce wait times as needed and avoid all of the problems that would come with for-profit clinics. No queue jumping should be allowed -- waiting times should be based on need.
Slower, Costlier, Riskier.... There is no evidence that these clinics will do better than public MRIs and CTs to improve wait times, safety, costs or quality. In fact, the evidence is that they are costlier and riskier. They cream the most profitable easiest tests and pull scarce personnel out of the public system. They create more problems as the public system struggles to provide the most expensive complex tests with less people and fewer resources.
The Ontario Health Coalition report looked at all of the available evidence regarding for-profit MRI and CT Clinics and found:
PULSE Table of Contents
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