Investigation spurs Alberta to promise changes,

CALGARY— Alberta has committed to examine how it could make more information about doctors’ disciplinary histories public after a Star investigation found physicians who misbehave can start over here with a clean record.

The province will now look at how it could post doctors’ records from outside the province and criminal convictions on their public licences, both steps that other jurisdictions have taken, Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said Wednesday. It will also delve into the possibility of posting physicians’ disciplinary histories within Alberta for either 10 years or indefinitely, rather than the current five years — something the province’s medical regulator has proposed since 2015.

“Knowing that this was suggested by the college years ago troubles me,” said Hoffman.

“Everyone puts their trust in physicians and I think it’s only fair for us to know if that physician has a prior history of any wrongdoing.”

The 18-month investigation found 159 doctors who were able to move across the Canada-U.S. border, taking advantage of a broken system that keeps their disciplinary histories secret from patients.

In Alberta, physicians’ records are scrubbed after five years and misconduct from other jurisdictions isn’t posted at all. Criminal convictions also aren’t posted on doctors’ public profiles, where patients go for information about the people in charge of their care.

Hoffman wouldn’t commit to a timeline for making changes, but said the province would want to play a part in establishing a national database of physician disciplinary records.

“Stories like this highlight that there are some bad apples out there,” she said. “We’re going to take a little bit of time to make this right, but we want to move quickly.”

Calgary-area Liberal MLA David Swann, who is a medical doctor, said the current rules around doctors’ disciplinary records highlight the numerous issues in the province’s healthcare system.