The Ontario government is planning to invest $121.7 million (U.S.) to upgrade and modernize medical equipment, including imaging technology, in the Canadian province. However, the spending initiative has drawn the ire of the Ontario Association of Radiologists (OAR).
The special grants announced September 18 would give Ontario hospitals and independent health facilities an opportunity to replace existing diagnostic equipment with units that are "compatible with modern computerized and digital technologies, capable of providing enhanced image quality," according to the government.
While this program would seem on the surface to be good news to the nearly 700 radiologists in Ontario, the OAR described the announcement as "sleight of hand" tied to significant reductions in healthcare spending. Although the government has allocated $32 million in one-time spending on radiology equipment, Ontario's health minister is moving to reduce annual operating funds to run the equipment, according to OAR president Dr. Giuseppe Tarulli.
In addition to investments in new imaging equipment, the money will allow ambulance services to acquire defibrillators and vehicles, while long-term care residents and hospital patients will benefit from specialized beds, lifts, bathing equipment, and other patient-care equipment, according to the government. Ontario also said that community health center clients will benefit from upgraded treatment equipment, and that Cancer Care Ontario will also continue to replace and upgrade cancer treatment equipment.
Combined with last year's spending of $121.9 million, Ontario will spend $243 million on new medical equipment over a two-year period, according to the government.
The one-time spending initiative will be enough to purchase approximately 300 new imaging scanners, a number that falls well short of the 2,400 pieces of outdated radiology equipment in the province as estimated by a September 2000 OAR report, Tarulli said. As such, the OAR said it is "outraged" that the province will be removing as much as $32 million in annual radiology equipment spending.
According to the OAR, the province has removed more than $83.2 million in funding for radiology equipment since 1994/1995. The organization also blames Ontario's outdated equipment crisis on "chronic government underfunding and clawbacks." OAR research has concluded that the province's radiology infrastructure has not seen a real increase in funding in 13 years.
The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care did not return calls from AuntMinnie.com seeking comment on the OAR's position.
To solve this radiology equipment problem, the OAR has drawn up 14 recommendations, including:
- Establishment of a Canada Medical Imaging Renewal Fund, a national investment fund for the purchase and replacement of medical imaging equipment on an ongoing basis. An Ontario counterpart to this fund should also be created to match the province's share of recent federal funding, according to OAR.
- Creation of a provincial diagnostic imaging advisory committee to supervise and monitor the evolution and introduction of existing medical imaging technologies.
- Investment of at least $320 million over the next two years in medical imaging technology.
- Funding to be designated by the provincial government for more radiologist residency training spaces at Ontario medical school programs, with the goal of stem a forecasted shortfall of over 150 radiologists by 2010.
- Additional funding to permit the adoption of new imaging technologies such as PACS, teleradiology, and digital x-ray scanners.
- Creation of a special fund or allocation of funding to facilitate expanded availability of digital mammography equipment.
- Introduction of a cost accounting process that addresses the actual cost of delivering all major radiology services.
The OAR has spelled out its concerns in a letter sent to federal health minister Alan Rock. In addition, the society is asking the Ontario government to terminate radiology spending cuts, match the federal government's equipment fund, and increase spending for radiology.
By Erik L. RidleyAuntMinnie.com staff writer
September 28, 2001
Copyright © 2001 AuntMinnie.com
