Alberta NDP slams province over DynaLIFE contracts, UCP calls claims baseless

The Alberta United Conservative Party government is facing backlash from the Opposition party for its decision to end contracts with DynaLIFE and move lab services back to Alberta Health Services.

Alberta NDP critic for Health, Emergency, and Surgical Care Luanne Metz says the decision from the UCP has left doctors who work on lab results out on a limb with an “inferior deal” with Alberta Precision Labs (APL) as of Aug. 31.

“At a time when we are desperate for stability, Adriana LaGrange is picking yet another fight with yet another group of health-care workers, for no reason,” Metz said in a statement Tuesday.

APL is back to being the province’s lab services provider after the contract went to DynaLIFE in December 2022. DynaLIFE is no longer the province’s lab service provider as of midnight on Thursday.

According to Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, an agreement was reached with the ownership of DynaLIFE in August to transfer staff, equipment, and property in all areas of the province to APL.

This will be completed in phases, and the full transition is expected to be completed by December — nearly one year after the initial switchover.

She was tasked with fixing lab service delays in her mandate letter from the premier following the spring election.

Related Stories:

• DynaLIFE out as Alberta’s lab services provider after long delays, wait times

• Alberta government adding more lab appointments in Calgary

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

The months following the change to DynaLIFE saw numerous complaints from the public regarding long wait times, cancelled appointments, or mistakes made on lab results

“Now, this UCP government, in its incompetence, is trying to force these doctors to take inferior contracts. They don’t have any limitations on workload, and they don’t even have provisions for extra pay for extra work. Note that the lab physicians working for Alberta Precision Labs have been working under these same contracts, contracts which expired five years ago, contracts which the government has delayed in renegotiating,” Metz said.

In a letter from the Alberta Medical Association to APL and AHS, the vast majority of DynaLIFE physicians will “not be signing the new proposed APL contract as requested by August 31st, 2023.”

“The overwhelming majority of (DynaLIFE) physicians believe that an unfair process has been undertaken by APL to provide new terms of an agreement on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis that are inferior to the agreement that is currently in place with (DynaLIFE),” the letter reads.

The AMA states that the key differences between the current DynaLIFE contract and the new one with APL are acknowledgement of a workload limit, extra pay if a doctor works over that workload limit, the right to refuse extra work, and pool funds for “unfilled FTE positions that are retained by the medical staff.”

Around 52 laboratory physicians were present for the meeting, representing most physicians working with DynaLIFE.

“So here we are heading into respiratory illness season. And the doctors we need to guide almost the entire system have no contract and no employer. We’re all just hoping that everyone
keeps coming to work and somehow gets paid,” said Metz.

“We know that lab physicians work hard, out of the public eye, and they deserve to be treated with respect. If we don’t have these folks on the job, we don’t have a health-care system.”

The UCP, meanwhile, says the NDP’s claims are false, and the physicians have until Sept. 25 to sign a new deal with APL.

“On Aug. 25, DynaLIFE physicians who hold a community lab medical services ISA/contract received an offer of an Alberta Precision Lab community medical services ISA/contract,” said municipal affairs press secretary Scott Johnston in an email to CityNews.

“These physicians may take until September 25 to review the ISA/contract and decide whether they wish to sign and accept the offer.

“Whether DynaLIFE physicians choose to sign the community services ISA/contract or not, Alberta Precision Labs will compensate them for the work that they perform between Sept. 1 and Sept. 25.”

-With files from Lauryn Heintz