Alberta’s laboratory physicians appreciate the detailed review of the DynaLIFE community laboratory services contract conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Alberta. This long-awaited report accurately documents the significant harm that the DynaLIFE arrangement caused to Alberta’s patients and the broader health system, along with the substantial waste of public funds.
The report underscores the challenges that laboratory medicine and its workforce have faced over the past two decades of instability and discordant government policy — marked by repeated contract changes, privatization attempts, provincialization and other imposed structures. This constant turmoil has left our workforce exhausted, resources depleted and a critical medical specialty in disarray.
Throughout the oscillation of lab services between private-to-public-to-private-to-public delivery, Alberta’s laboratory physicians made every effort to provide guidance to government and leadership. We repeatedly warned that the DynaLIFE plan was likely to fail and that the proposed structure was untenable.
Unfortunately, those warnings were ignored.
The report also raises troubling concerns about political interference, unethical business practices and a lack of transparency in a process that has become an embarrassment to our profession. Importantly, it makes clear — through the absence of evidence — that laboratory physicians were not responsible for the mismanagement or waste that occurred.
As Alberta undergoes another major health system restructuring, stability will be the cornerstone of success. As the Auditor General’s report indicated, foundational elements must be in place before further changes to system design can be considered. Laboratory physicians understand these requirements and are uniquely positioned to help ensure that they are implemented. Many of our members have extensive experience within Alberta’s system and in other jurisdictions worldwide where models similar to those currently being explored have been successfully adopted, building on the necessary precursors that are currently lacking in Alberta. We know what works — and what does not.
Laboratory physicians can be strong partners if government is willing to work with us. We are ready and willing to guide improvements that will ensure cost-effective, publicly funded laboratory medicine in Alberta. But persistent structural instability and system uncertainty pose increasing risks for both the health system and Alberta patients.
Informed reform in laboratory medicine is possible in Alberta — but only if laboratory physicians have a seat at the table, and only after careful deliberation and planning. Alberta’s laboratory physicians see the paramount need for organizational stability in these troubled times; we need a health system leadership structure that is representative and responsive; we need fair and equitable remuneration; and we need a system that recognizes the critical functions that laboratory medicine plays in the care and management of every patient in Alberta.