Hospital laundry goes private; lab testing will be next

The Kenney government took the first big step toward privatization in health care on Friday by requesting hospital laundry bids from private companies.

About 480 people will lose their public sector jobs.

That's just the start of a government drive to push ancillary health care services into the private sector.

Community lab testing will be the next significant area to move to private delivery.

And in this case, about 2,000 workers are expected to “transition” to the private provider.

This is the crucial blood work and other tests needed during treatment and diagnosis for a variety of ailments, from diabetes to some cancers.

There's no secret about the government's plans. Rather than shy away from opposition questions, Premier Jason Kenney says directly that health care costs must be cut, and this is one way to do it.

Kenney also insists that Albertans will still have their services paid by the public purse, despite his party's startling support last weekend for a parallel private-pay system for health care.

The testing service is so jammed up right now that it's almost impossible to get a lab appointment anywhere in Calgary before early December.

Edmonton has the same problem, all due to COVID-19.

Seventy per cent of Edmonton and northern community testing is done by a private company, Dynalife.

Calgary's testing system is publicly-owned and operated under the wing of Alberta Precision Laboratories.

This has always seemed counter-political — Edmonton with the private health service and Calgary with the public one.

But almost all community tests will be private by 2022 unless the UCP backs off, which seems unlikely.

It was fascinating to see a surprise participant at the Calgary Airport Thursday for a big announcement. Jason Pincock, CEO of Dynalife, said his company was proud to do some COVID-19 testing for Canadians and eligible foreign nationals.

His company will handle voluntary paid tests — $150 each — for departing travellers.

Arrivals will get free tests courtesy of AHS.

“Our new COVID testing protocol helps address the immediate need for essential travel while building a scalable platform to the return to normal air travel,” Pincock said.

It was almost as if Dynalife was being introduced to Calgary.

Government health officials have great respect for Dynalife, although they can't come right out and say the company is favoured for takeover of all community testing.

Dynalife has been a political football in recent years.

In 2014, the old PC government wanted to contract an Australian company to replace it, but finally did not. Then the NDP planned to buy out all of Dynalife's facilities and staff, and also build a huge testing lab in

Edmonton. The grand plan was to turn all testing over to the public domain.

Partly owned by a big American lab service, Dynalife was not an NDP favourite.

Unsurprisingly, Kenney and the UCP government cancelled the NDP initiative. Now the plan is the complete opposite — community testing will be private.

The formal process is already underway. Last December, Alberta Precision Labs asked for expressions of interest, and later said it had enough response to proceed.

On June 19, the first request for proposal was issued to find an overall “sourcing co-ordinator.”

The big RFP (request for proposal) will be posted by the end of November with the goal of awarding the contract in 2021 and implementing the change in 2022 — the expiry year of Dynalife's current contract.

About 60 per cent of all lab tests will move to the private provider. Alberta Precision Laboratories will continue “direct operation of laboratories located in acute care and urgent care facilities.”

APL itself is a difficult outfit to grasp in this fluid context.

By the time this complex business is done, the crux will probably boil down to a short sentence.

Dynalife is coming to town.