Alberta government in talks to buy out DynaLIFE lab services: NDP

The Opposition NDP has released lobbying records that show the Alberta government is in talks to buy out DynaLIFE Medical Labs, which was given a provincial lab services contract late last year.

“AHS is exploring the long-term delivery of these services over the next decade and is engaging DynaLIFE as the incumbent provider and as a stakeholder in the proposed changes,” the records released by NDP say.

“This decision includes the option of acquiring DynaLIFE and integrating it into AHS operations or continuing a contractual model structure.”

This comes after the lab has experienced numerous complaints of delays and cancellations of appointments since the UCP granted it a contract to handle lab services in December 2022.

Edmonton-based DynaLIFE Medical Labs took on about 65 per cent of provincial work through a contract with the Alberta government.

WATCH: Privatization of Alberta community lab services sparks concerns

In a news conference Friday, NDP leader Rachel Notley claimed the clinic experiences were to deter Albertans from paying for medical services at private facilities.

“After wasting millions of Albertans’ tax dollars to blow up the public lab, the UCP gave the whole thing to a private company who now wants the taxpayer to buy it back from them,” said Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley.

“Meanwhile, regular Albertans are left with unacceptable wait times and frustrations. These are the pressures that push people towards clinics offering faster access in exchange for thousands of dollars in membership fees.”

She says clinics like Marda Loop Medical Clinic and Harrison Healthcare, both in Calgary, offer services for a fee, with the latter providing an “on-site laboratory and assessment centre” with a membership fee of $5,200.

“That cannot be how we provide healthcare in Alberta,” Notley said.

“Every single Albertan must have timely access to a doctor and to a lab. It’s time to end the crisis in healthcare, and that includes our lab system, and it’s time to stop forcing Albertans to pay out of pocket to get the public healthcare they deserve.”

The NDP called on medical school student Mel Mok of Calgary to talk about her experience at the DynaLIFE Gulf location.

“I arrived on time and was told there would be a 45-minute wait,” Mok told reporters.

“While I was there, I noticed no one was being seen over the lunch hour despite a full waiting room. I overheard patients calling the Tom Baker Cancer Centre to cancel appointments, people needing to leave but being torn because they had been waiting for months for their lab work.”

Mok says the receptionist began telling people their appointments were not appointments but “suggestions.”

“The mood in the waiting room was palpable as people overheard the instructions given to new people who arrived as people notified the staff that they would be leaving,” she said.

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Alberta Health tells CityNews the government and itself are “fully aware” of issues with DynaLIFE that Albertans have been experiencing.

“The Government of Alberta and Alberta Health Services are fully aware that DynaLIFE is not currently meeting a number of Key Performance Indicators under their contract with AHS for the delivery of community lab services in a number of locations around the province,” said Alberta Health press secretary Scott Johnston.

“We are very been concerned about this ongoing situation.”

He says Albertans don’t deserve the services they received from DynaLIFE and adds that the province will have “more to say soon.”

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said in a statement earlier in the week that physicians in Alberta are expected to follow the Canada Health Act and the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act.

When speaking about the Marda Loop Medical Clinic, they said the government would be “extremely concerned” if it were charging fees for “services that are insured and offering accelerated access to a family physician, at the expense of other patients needing to wait longer.”

They said appropriate action would be taken if non-compliance was found, with Smith repeating that claim in a news conference Friday, adding the clinic would be shut down, face fines, or have Medicare payments from the province withheld.

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• Health Canada says Calgary clinic charging for health services contrary to the Canada Health Act

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Smith has repeatedly said no Albertan would have to pay out of pocket for healthcare, a slogan she touted before the start of the election.

She issued a mandate letter to Health Minister Adrianna LaGrange, asking her to improve the system “within the pillars of the Canada Health Act and, importantly, in alignment with our government’s Public Health Care Guarantee that no Albertan will ever have to pay out of pocket to see their doctor or receive a needed medical treatment.”

In April, she and the UCP announced a “public-health guarantee,” pledging to stick with publicly-funded health care and not axe any services and prescriptions.

However, this was scrutinized as Smith has said multiple times in interviews and in a 2021 paper she wrote for the University of Calgary School of Public Policy that she supports the idea of health spending accounts.

CityNews has contacted DynaLIFE and the Office of the Premier for comment.