Bill would pave way for doing some surgeries in N.B. outside hospitals

The Higgs government has introduced legislation that would allow Medicare to pay for more simple surgeries outside hospitals.

The bill would create a legal framework for a two-year pilot project in Bathurst that will move cataract surgeries to a local clinic, freeing up two days of surgical time per week for other procedures at the Chaleur Regional Hospital.

The bill Health Minister Bruce Fitch introduced Wednesday "is specifically to allow that one, and my expectation is we'll continue to widen that list as time goes on to allow these surgeries to occur." 

Fitch visited the Bathurst clinic when the pilot project was announced last month.

"It was amazing to see the amount of people they can put through" thanks to new technology and equipment, he said. 

The pilot project, which is also designed to shorten wait times for cataract surgeries, is to run for 24 months, but Fitch said the government could expand the model to other places around the province before that, assuming everything works as expected.

But the health minister found himself tongue-tied when asked by reporters what other surgeries might get the same treatment.

"There's some procedures — actually, I'm smiling a bit because they're sensitive issues," Fitch said.

When reporters mentioned vasectomies and colonoscopies, Fitch confirmed those were two possibilities, saying it made him "a little squeamish" to talk about "other surgeries in that part of the body, around that area." 

Fitch said this would not change the province's long-standing refusal to fund surgical abortions in clinics.

He said the province checked with the regional health authorities and there's no waiting list for abortions.

"They came back to us saying there's not a wait list and you can obtain the procedure in a very expedient way." 

Opposition Leader Rob McKee, the Liberal health critic, said for abortions, access is the issue, not wait times, and the new legislation should apply.

"Having quick access close to where you live is very important." 

Fitch said he expected the Liberals to support the bill and help speed it through the legislature because two Liberal MLAs attended and applauded the Bathurst announcement.

But McKee said his party is concerned that more clinics doing surgeries — even if funded by Medicare — would draw even more nurses away from already staff-strapped hospitals.

"It's a step toward alleviating wait lists but we do have concerns about the roll-out," he said.

"If we're going to be competing for the same employees, whether it be in hospitals or clinics, private clinics, it could raise challenges." 

Green Leader David Coon called the bill "hugely problematic" because in his view it could lead to "corporate-owned surgery centres."

Family doctor offices are already private operations that bill Medicare, but Coon suggested surgical centres could be set up by large for-profit corporations. 

He said he may be more open to the idea if the clinics are set up by local doctors with local ownership. 

"Is that all we're talking about here? That's one thing. But my sense is there's a lot more so we need to get to the bottom of it," he said.