EHealth needed closer supervision, McGuinty admits

From the Toronto Star

Jun 10, 2009 09:06 PM Maria Babbage
THE CANADIAN PRESS

The province should have kept a closer eye on eHealth Ontario, which is mired in scandal over lavish spending and untendered contracts, Premier Dalton McGuinty acknowledged Wednesday.

He issued the rare meaculpa while defending eHealth board chairman Dr. Alan Hudson, whom
opposition parties have accused of giving Liberal-friendly firms lucrative contracts without taking competitive bids.

In "fairness" to Hudson – who also serves as the province's point-man on wait times – he is a medical expert who knows how to ``drive change" within the health-care system, McGuinty said.

"We should have had more oversight in place," said the premier, who has been barraged
for days with calls to fire Health Minister David Caplan.

"We should have had a greater understanding of what was happening on the ground and providing ongoing advice, even though this was an arm's length agency."

Some interpreted McGuinty's remarks as a prelude to a cabinet shuffle that will move Caplan out of the massive $42-billion health portfolio to avoid further embarrassment.

"Sounds like a clear indictment of his minister, I would suggest, by saying clearly he wasn't doing his job – which is essentially what we've been saying for the past couple of weeks," said interim
Progressive Conservative leader Bob Runciman.

McGuinty has so far refused to fire Caplan over the growing controversy, but is long due for a cabinet shuffle to fill the vacancy left by former economic development minister Michael Bryant in late May.

The premier is trying to assuage public anger over eHealth, but he'll have to dump Caplan if he wants to succeed, said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

"Whether it's an arm's-length agency or not, we still should expect some significant oversight for the health dollars that are being spent," she said.

"Ultimately, that responsibility, that obligation, lies with the minister of health."

The Coalition of Family Physicians also joined the call Wednesday for Caplan's head over the eHealth scandal. In a blistering letter to Ontario doctors, the group says Hudson must also resign because he's "not competent" to lead the agency's board.

"We are at a crossroads in transformation where one path is carved out by seemingly entitled individuals who appear content to waste hundreds of millions of taxpayers' hard-earned money and who are not held accountable," states the letter signed by president Dr. Douglas Mark.

"Not even the Minister of Health, David Caplan, as he turns a blind eye to the shenanigans of his trusted leaders at eHealth who show up over and over again in various health care organizations with a trail littered with costly programs but questionable results."

Hudson hasn't returned calls for comment.

EHealth, which is tasked with creating electronic health records in Ontario, has ignited a political storm for questionable spending and awarding nearly $5 million in untendered contracts.
Sarah Kramer was abruptly removed as president and CEO on Sunday amid the furor over
eHealth, which allowed consultants who were paid about $2,700 a day to bill taxpayers for minor purchases like tea and snacks.

One consulting firm that received an untendered contract charged eHealth for such tasks as reading newspaper articles, reviewing voice mail messages and talking shop during a subway ride.

On Wednesday, McGuinty gave his sternest warning yet that he may force all arm's-length agencies to comply with the same rules that government employees must follow in dealing with the private sector.

He hinted the changes may come after Auditor General Jim McCarter completes his report on eHealth, which is expected in the fall.

The growing eHealth controversy is taking its toll and hurting government efforts to sell thorny policies like tax harmonization to voters, McGuinty acknowledged.

"You work really hard to inspire confidence in Ontarians. You want them to come with you, sometimes in areas with which they may not be entirely comfortable, like the single
sales tax," he said.

"These kinds of events compromise that. They make it more difficult. And that's why it's all the more important that we find a way to address this."

Hudson has been widely criticized for signing off on a $114,000 bonus for Kramer – on top of
her $380,000 salary – after only a few months on the job.

Caplan at first defended the bonus, saying it was what Kramer would have received at her previous job at Cancer Care Ontario. But he quickly changed his tune late last week after the provincial agency said Kramer would have received only about $40,000 if she'd stayed.

Both Caplan and McGuinty have insisted that no rules were broken in awarding the untendered contracts, which were allowed because of the "urgency" of eHealth's task – even though the province's deadline for electronic health records is 2015.

Government officials point out that tougher contract procurement rules have been in place at eHealth since late March. Deputy health minister Ron Sapsford – who helped draft those rules – has been installed as temporary CEO of eHealth.

EHealth was established last fall after the first provincial agency tasked with creating electronic health records, Smart Systems for Health, spent about $650 million but failed to produce anything of value before it was quietly shut down.