Auditor general slams travel-nurse contracts, says Vitalité withheld information
Paul Martin’s report says private company’s deployment of nurses didn’t match staff absences
New Brunswick's auditor general is criticizing the Vitalité health authority for its handling of $123 million in travel-nurse contracts — and for its refusal to hand over key information about the agreements.
Paul Martin acknowledges in his audit that the health system was facing dire staffing shortages in 2022 when the authority signed its first contract with Canadian Health Labs.
But he says the deployment of travel nurses in Vitalité's hospitals "did not correlate with staff absences due to COVID-19"— one of the main rationales provided for the reliance on travel nurses — or with unplanned staff absences.
"The contracts with private nursing agencies were not reflective of best practices and did not demonstrate value for money," Martin said.
Premier
Blaine Higgs said he was 'disappointed' with what Martin uncovered and
called on both health authorities to follow the recommendations. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
What is "quite scary," he told MLAs Tuesday, is that the current Canadian Health Labs contract with Vitalité allows the company to deploy nurses "regardless of the actual need" and still be paid up to $85 million during the life of the agreement.
"They're going to get paid money this year if you don't use them," he said.
At the same time, when the contract expires in 2026 it can be automatically renewed up to five times if the company meets bilingualism thresholds.
"I bet a lot of people would love to get a contract like this, and I would challenge government to do better — way better. This is not good."
'Lack of ownership' demonstrated, says AG
Vitalité said in a statement that most of Martin's recommendations are already standard practice, "while others will be implemented in the coming days."
The authority claimed, incorrectly, that Martin failed to mention "the emergency situation" in health care at the time the contracts were signed along with other "information and testimonials" not reflected in the audit.
In a response published as an appendix to his report, the health authority disputes many of Martin's findings — which Martin in turn rebutted during his appearance Tuesday at the legislature's public accounts committee.
He said given the health authority's pushback, his office was unable to reach conclusions about whether it agreed with the findings.
"We are very concerned with the lack of ownership for the issues identified and unwillingness to clearly accept our recommendations," he said.
The health authority is a large organization spending huge amounts of money to provide health care to New Brunswickers, he said.
"The oversight and accountability for those funds requires significantly more due diligence than what has been demonstrated to us during our work."
In Question Period, Premier Blaine Higgs said he was "disappointed" with what Martin uncovered and called on both health authorities to follow the recommendations.
"I do take responsibility because it's not acceptable," Higgs said.
Social
Development Minister Jill Green said she and Health Minister Bruce
Fitch have been working with government lawyers from the attorney
general’s office on 'how we can extricate ourselves from these
contracts.' (Jacques Poitras/CBC, Roger Cosman/CBC)
"It's clear that the contracts that were signed were not the best value for the taxpayers of New Brunswick."
Social Development Minister Jill Green said she and Health Minister Bruce Fitch have been working with government lawyers from the attorney general's office on "how we can extricate ourselves from these contracts."
At the end of Tuesday's public accounts committee meeting, MLAs from all three parties voted unanimously to call Vitalité, Horizon Health, and the departments of social development and health to testify before June 30 about the contracts.
Progressive Conservative MLA Jeff Carr called Vitalité's approach "an insult" to taxpayers.
"What I'm seeing here with the lack of accountability … flies in the face of what our government stands for," he said.
"I really worry about the signal it sends to the rest of the good people in the system."
Liberal
MLA Benoit Bourque, a former health minister, said Martin’s audit was
'by far the most scathing report' he’d seen during a decade in politics.
(CBC)
Liberal MLA Benoit Bourque, a former health minister, said Martin's audit was "by far the most scathing report" he'd seen during a decade in politics.
"This is beyond words."
Green Party MLA Megan Mitton told Martin that Canadian Health Labs must be "laughing all the way to the bank. They have had quite a lucrative time in New Brunswick so far."
Martin also found no proper bidding process, no legal review of the contracts and no review before Canadian Health Labs was paid for its travel nurses in long-term care homes under a separate contract with the Department of Social Development, the audit says.
His audit also criticized Horizon Health's travel-nurse contracts but said it did a better job ensuring that the services it was paying for were delivered.
He contrasted Horizon's approach with Vitalite's decision to hire Canadian Health Labs without a bidding process, noting Horizon was able to choose among proposals from 37 travel-nurse agencies and did not pick that company.
"It seems like there's some fish in the pond," he said.
Vitalité's
rebuttal says its use of travel nurses allowed it to avoid a two-thirds
reduction in emergency capacity at Moncton's Dr. Georges-L. Dumont
University Hospital Centre, among other things. (CBC)
Martin casts doubt on Vitalité's rationale for its heavy spending on travel nurses: that French-speaking nurses are harder to recruit, which created a more severe shortage at the health authority's facilities, which operate in French.
The auditor general says the contract required that Canadian Health Labs provide only "limited" service in French in some hospitals.
Won't rule out court action
He also says Vitalité refused to give his office three internal audits it conducted itself into its contracts with the company, a violation of the Auditor General Act which says the office is entitled to "free access" to all documents whether they're confidential or not.
"Due to the lack of co-operation from Vitalité, risks that they identified in the audit reports and to what extent those risks were addressed is not known," Martin's report says.
"It is critical that government organizations understand the powers of the Auditor General and comply with the Auditor General Act."
Martin told MLAs that he wasn't ruling out going to court to force the health authority to turn over the three internal audits.
Vitalité said in its statement it had been "irreproachable" in its co-operation with Martin's office and the three audits were withheld only because the health authority "is in the midst of a dispute with one of the companies targeted in this investigation" and sharing them might have hurt negotiations.
In its rebuttal in the audit's appendix, Vitalité says its use of travel nurses allowed it to avoid:
The closure of the Campbellton Regional Hospital's emergency department.
A two-thirds reduction in emergency capacity at Moncton's Dr. Georges-L. Dumont University Hospital Centre.
The closure of the Restigouche Hospital Centre, the province's forensic psychology facility.
"The network had to act quickly to counter the nursing shortage," it says.
$98M in contracts with one company
Martin's audit did not include an examination of the Department of Health's role because it did not sign any travel-nurse contracts, he said.
He added that Tuesday's audit was only "a piece of this" but he wanted to get his findings out quickly, and his office may do more work on travel nurse issues in the future.
The total value of all travel contracts with 10 companies was $173 million, Martin said.
The largest amount was $98 million for three contracts between Vitalité and Canadian Health Labs.
The company's CEO, Bill Hennessey, said in an email he was travelling Tuesday and would likely be unable to respond to questions.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Perhaps they should ask for my help
Oh My MY Ain't that rather special?
The incompetence here is astounding, but given we're talking about Vitalité, hardly surprising.
the paper work is unreal for 300 bucks but here they are giving millions even if they dont need nurses........whats wrong with this picture
Reply by David Amos.
Do tell
Comment by Bob de trelleg.
Not a day goes by without some negative news about Higgs and Company. But, free publicity is free publicity. Trump would approve.
Reply by Albalita Rose.
Another old saying...If you don't have something nice to say about someone don't say anything at all"...hence no real news about the feds...or his current trip....
Reply by David Amos.
Where is the fun in that?
Reply by Ed Franks.
If you tell me which costume he was wearing. I can guess which country he went to.
Comment by Kevin Archibald.
Sounds like a contract a soocer or football player would get nowadays.
Reply by David Amos.
Not really
Comment by Daniel Franklin.
Typical for so much secrecy within a conservative government. They don't want you to see that so-and-so's cousin benefited from this contract.
Reply by David Amos.
Atcon
Comment by Andre Kornhauser.
What kind of contract is this? Sounds quite one sided. The negotiator of the contract should go, and the powers that be who signed as well.
Reply by David Amos.
Good luck with that
Comment by Hugh MacDonald.
Whoever was responsible for awarding the contract without tendering, not monitoring the Vitalité contract, and not questioning the discrepancies in nurse deployments and costs should lose their job(s). Most likely someone in the NB Dept. of Health with a personal relationship with Vitalité.
Reply by David Amos.
Welcome back to the circus
Reply by Ed Franks.
That was the fastest cont. deact I have very had.
Reply by Ed Franks.
ever had
Reply by Ed Franks.
Funny clowns
Reply by Ed Franks.
Maybe it was the word clowns
Reply by David Amos.
It happens to me all the time
Comment by ralph jacobs.
Any time you read about hiding information you can bet it isn't above board.
Reply by David Amos.
Of course
Reply by Bobby Richards.
Not above the hospital board either because they don't exist anymore. Higgs got rid of those so now we have the CEO of Vitalie refusing to hand over information to the AG.
Comment by David Amos.
"Martin told MLAs that he wasn't ruling out going to court to force the health authority to turn over the three internal audits."
Oh My MY Ain't that rather special?
Reply by Bobby Richards.
Maybe Martin can recruit Hogan since he has experience in this.
Comment by Frank Blacklock.
Canada’s Auditor General under a gag order to stop talking about the carbon tax?
Reply by David Amos.
Methinks folks should tune into the news today N'esy Pas?
Ministers respond to performance audit reports of the Auditor General of Canada
June 4, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario – Government of Canada
The Government of Canada will respond to three performance audit reports of the Auditor General of Canada. The following Ministers will address the reports and answer questions from the media:
Reply by Eddy Geek.
It appears Frank knows about as much of Canada's Auditor General as he does about Covid vaccines or the carbon tax - very bleeping little
The carbon tax adds 2-3 cents per litre Frank - not 16-17 cents
The Federal Auditor General held a new conference an hour ago which included the carbon tax
Comment by Akimbo Alogo.
JPs daily attempt at a hit piece. Yawn.
Reply by David Amos.
Its working
Reply by Akimbo Alogo.
It really isnt. Its just polarizing...and there will be another PC win. An easy one at that. Seems the liberals cant even get out of their own way.
Reply by David Amos.
True but I believe that Higgy win only win a minority because JP's work
Reply by Bobby Richards.
Higgs likes it when NBers are polarized. He's been working on that for 6 years now.
Comment by Wilson Rose.
I withhold information all the time and nothing happens to me. These guys aren't very good at it.
Reply by David Amos.
Do tell
Reply by Wilson Rose.
I'm withholding it.
Reply by David Amos.
As you no doubt know I practice the spirit of full disclosure every day
Reply by David Amos.
BTW Speak of the devil "Harvey York" and he will likely appear
Reply by ralph jacobs.
You aren't playing with government funds so no one cares.
Reply by David Amos.
Are you certain?
Reply by ralph jacobs.
No,just a guess as to why you aren't being bothered.
Reply by David Amos.
I am being bothered This thread is a good example
Comment by Lorelei Stott.
was this under watch of that vitalite ceo that got canned? maybe a link maybe not would be good to know though as a taxpayer propping up 2 hospital oranizations that should be 1
Reply by David Amos.
Vitalite still owes me money and their CEO and her minions won't talk about it No Thanks to Higgy et al
Comment by ralph jacobs.
It seems it is so easy to scam or misuse any funds related to health care.
Reply by William Peters.
It is easy to shift expenses around to create accounting magic. The province doesn't hire nurses. They credit themselves with being fiscally responsible. The thing becomes a cost to the Health Authority which can then be vilified for having to try and run a patchwork system that doesn't work that well and costs more.
Reply by Lorelei Stott.
doctors in charge of administering funds doesn't seem to be a good match maybe a finance person should be in charge of these organizations
Reply by Ralph Skavinsky.
Absolutely..I know first hand docs are not adept with financial matters.
Reply by David Amos.
Trust that I know a lot about such things
Comment by Doug kirby.
Auditor general is going to be unemployed if he gets the sitting government uneasy
Reply by MR Cain.
They always seem to find another job.
Reply by William Peters.
He has no teeth and what says falls on deaf ears.
Reply by David Amos.
True
Comment by Allan Marven.
"It is critical that government organizations understand the powers of the Auditor General and comply with the Auditor General Act."
So if you have all that power, use it, to it's maximum.
Comment by Max Ruby.
Vitalité's travel nurse contract with Canadian Health Labs required they provide only "limited" service in French.
Time to merge the two health authorities, save taxpayer money and cut residential property taxes Mr. Higgs.
Reply by Allan Marven.
I'm sure Canadian Health labs had nothing but the health and welfare of NBer's in mind when it bid on the contract.........
Reply by MR Cain.
How much do you think that would save? There is still a constitutional right that must be complied with.
Reply by Ralph Skavinsky.
..which should be changed...this is a new day
Reply by MR Cain.
Why?
Reply by Ralph Skavinsky.
Because we are no longer a French English country..haven't you noticed ?
Reply by Ralph Skavinsky.
And, in any event, frankly, duplication is far too costly
Reply by MR Cain.
That would be an opinion without fact.
Reply by John Gray.
Ok so we adopt french as the primary language in New Brunswick? Because what your boldly and publically saying is forcing the French to give up their constitutional rights here
Reply by MR Cain.
A little historical tidbit: the central states of France and England, later Britain,, fought 41 wars against each other between the first Anglo-French War in 1109 and the Hundred Days in 1815. On average that's a war every 17.3 years. In total France won 24 wars, England/Britain won 11 and 6 were a tie.
Reply by Mathieu Laperriere.
We have always been a French and English country.
Reply by Greg Miller.
Property tax -- you've got that right -- mine has gone up 55% in 4 years!
Reply by David Amos.
Nope
Reply by Ralph Skavinsky.
I am saying we have get with reality orwith the times as they say...we have become more than two languages
Reply by Ralph Skavinsky.
Oui,c'est vrai, mais this as said is rapidly becoming a new day
Reply by John Gray.
We're a bilingual province, it would be political suicide for any party to abolish the language lol
Comment by Allan Marven.
If the AG can't get the info, it's time for a criminal investigation.
Reply by David Amos.
I concur
Comment by Jonathan Martin.
NB is the only province that wastes tax payer dollars on duplication of services in all aspects. This is not only wasteful, but almost criminal considering the small size of the province.
Reply by David Amos.
I agree
Comment by Jimmy Cochrane.
Ho hum. Another audit/committee/inquiry. With the end result being the same.
More tax payer monies squandered.
Reply by Jack Bell.
Correction.... squandered in the language of your choice.
Reply by David Amos.
Oh so true
Comment by JOhn D Bond.
How is it government organizations can withhold information from auditors that public companies cannot.
Time for a change in the leadership in the province and Vitalité .
Time for the tax payers to hold these bureaucrats personally liable for the terrible decisions they make.
Reply by Mack Leigh.
Accountability for ones' actions is not something that politicians and CEOs' are
familiar with.... Wonder how many pay increases and bonus's have been handed out to Vitality.
Reply by David Amos.
IMHO Far too many
Comment by Greg Miller.
"Withholding information" has become an art form in New Brunswick!
Reply by William Peters.
The art is spinning it into an increase in transparency when you do it. Up is down times...Con artists rise to the top before they fall.
Reply by Mack Leigh.
Sadly here in NB they seldom fall but rather run for another office.
Reply by David Amos.
Yup
Reply by David Amos.
True
Deja Vu Anyone???
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/former-mla-brian-macdonald-travel-nurse-lobbyist-1.7211180
"Brian Macdonald, a former Progressive Conservative MLA, represented Canadian Health Labs in early 2023, seeking to arrange meetings with senior government officials, including his former PC caucus colleague Premier Blaine Higgs."