Up to 750 Manitobans could get hip, knee surgeries out-of-province under new agreements
Province has signed agreements with clinics in northwestern Ontario, North Dakota and Ohio, task force says
Hundreds of Manitobans waiting for hip and knee replacement surgeries could get care out-of-province, after the government signed three new agreements with providers in Ontario, North Dakota and Ohio.
The province's diagnostic and surgical recovery task force announced the agreements could result in up to 750 people getting surgeries at Big Thunder Orthopedic Associates in northwestern Ontario, Sanford Health in Fargo, N.D., and Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
"These agreements are an important measure to help us build capacity and provide care for people that have been waiting too long for these surgeries," said Dr. Peter MacDonald, chair of the task force steering committee.
Patients will be able to declare whether they are interested in going out of province for their surgery.
"This will ensure that we have the right patients and the correct volume of patients that we need to address the wait lists in a meaningful way," MacDonald said.
Eligibility criteria, as well as information about how to apply, will be posted on the task force's website.
A pilot project with Big Thunder Orthopedic Associates will start at the end of this month, beginning with six patients. It will expand to as many as 20 to 30 patients a month, or 300 procedures per year, at locations in Dryden, Fort Frances and Kenora.
An expansion of an earlier agreement with Sanford Health in North Dakota, which the province says has provided 28 spinal surgeries in recent months, could see that clinic offer up to 125 hip or knee surgeries this year, and as many as 250 in 2023-24.
In a new agreement, Cleveland Clinic will do as many as 200 procedures per year.
The province also said Wednesday it will now able to conduct some surgeries here in September that it thought would have to be cancelled because of a shortage of anesthesiologists. The province says it found ways to do more surgeries by rearranging vacations, and cutting back on research and academic work.
The new agreements are a temporary measure, while the province tries to deal with a backlog caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the task force said.
"We recognize that these out-of-province agreements will be a short-term measure," said MacDonald.
"It's not a permanent solution, but an interim measure, until more capacity can be built in Manitoba's health-care system over the long term."
Manitoba will cover medical costs, as well as transportation and accommodation. The province may cover food as well.
Surgery delays
Ultimately, the number of patients who receive out-of-province surgeries under the new agreements will depend on demand.
"We have predicted for the next two to three years, we would have these partnerships that are up and running," said Dr. David Matear, the executive director of the task force.
"Bear in mind, that would depend on demand and obviously a patient's willingness to go out of province for care, and the need to go out of province for care."
Bob Johnson waited three years to get knee replacement surgery. The 71-year-old Winnipegger had his surgery postponed four times. That includes once in May 2022, when he had already been prepped for the procedure in the hospital, only to be sent home because there was no bed available for him afterward.
"I was upset by it, but you know what's going on in the health system," he said, adding that the staff at the hospital were apologetic.
"I thought it was comical that it would take all the way up to, and past, the time I was supposed to actually go under the knife to figure out that they didn't have a bed."
Johnson finally had his surgery in June. He doesn't think he would have taken advantage of the opportunity to get the surgery outside Manitoba if it had been available.
"If I had had a choice between a specific date in Winnipeg versus a faster time going south, I would have waited for Winnipeg, if it was a real date," he said.
The province says it's getting a good deal from the other clinics, but it will still cost Manitoba more than it would to have the surgeries done here.
Opposition politicians want the Progressive Conservative government to focus on building capacity in the health system.
"After all the many months that we've been waiting for these surgery updates, to deliver more surgeries in Manitoba, it's pretty disappointing to hear the the PCs are just doubling down on their plan for highway medicine," said NDP Leader Wab Kinew.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Bartley Kives