Alberta government undermined health authority to push lab privatization deal, A-G report finds

The Alberta government compromised the independence of the province’s health authority as it worked to sign a deal with a private laboratory testing company in 2022 that was terminated just eight months after it was implemented, according to an investigation by Alberta’s Auditor-General.

Alberta’s Health Ministry asked Alberta Health Services to forge ahead with the deal despite repeated warnings from AHS about overstated cost savings, in its bid to hand community lab testing to Dynalife, the report published Wednesday by Auditor-General Doug Wylie said. Between 2019 and 2023, the Alberta government paid a combined $109-million to set up the system and eventually kill the deal.

The 43-page report details issues throughout the procurement process including miscalculated cost savings, failures to assess Dynalife’s financial vulnerabilities, along with technological issues that led to an increase in critical misdiagnoses for serious health conditions.