PCs eye return of AHS board
Just over a year after he abruptly disbanded the Alberta Health Services board of directors, Health Minister Fred Horne says his government is now working on plans to bring it back.
Horne insisted Thursday no decision has been made as to when, or even if, the board would be re-established, saying those calls will be made by the Tory cabinet and the new premier who will be chosen in September. But he said the government needs to get prepared now in case that call is made.
“We are working on the components of an eventual transition from an official administrator back to a board at AHS,” Horne said Thursday. “At some point in the future, I’m sure a decision will be made to return to the normal circumstances where you have a board in place at AHS. There are a lot of things to prepare for and consider. We do need to be ready.”
An opposition critic questioned the timing of Horne’s announcement, noting it comes a short time after Jim Prentice, the man expected to become the next premier, vowed to resurrect the AHS board and said he felt the previous board should never have been fired. Prior to this week, Horne has never publicly indicated any plans to have it reconstituted.
“I suspect they are just drawing from Jim Prentice’s campaign,” NDP MLA David Eggen said. “That doesn’t smell great with an unelected candidate calling the shots before anything has happened.”
Horne, who is supporting Prentice in the PC leadership race, said his ministry had been looking at the AHS governance structure before Prentice made his remarks. Asked how long before, he said it was fairly recently because his ministry was consumed with more pressing issues in the health system over the past year.
The last AHS board was eliminated by Horne in June 2013, after the 10-member group defied the minister’s demand to withhold bonus pay for health executives running AHS. A followup investigation found the health authority was contractually obligated to award the money.
The board was replaced by single official administrator, which is the model that has been in place ever since. Horne said the move has allowed AHS to make some important changes, including a leaner management structure and a new compensation system. Now that the health authority is in better shape, the time is right to again consider how it should be governed, he said.
He said questions now being studied include how many members any future board should have, what expertise might be needed to serve and how much members should be paid.
Eggen said he sees no use in bringing back an AHS board that seemed to do nothing but “stamping paper with rubber,” and providing a target for the minister to blame when something went wrong. “And how are they going to recruit for this board? I’m sure they will find some people, but who really wants to sit on a board that has little political power and has the sword of the minister hanging over them all the time?”