Ontario eHealth boss fired amid $5M scandal
p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- Sarah Kramer (right) is no longer eHealth Ontario’s president and CEO.
She was fired yesterday, “amid a scandal over $5 million in untendered contracts,” says the Canadian Press.
eHealth Ontario claims to be a, “new organization that will play the leading role in harnessing information technology and innovation to improve patient care, safety and access in support of the government’s health strategy”.
But it, “tallied up well over $200,000 in meal and travel expenses during a few months,” the London Free Press had Tory MPP Elizabeth Witmer saying in April.
“Staff members and consultants with eHealth Ontario, which is developing the province’s electronic health records, spent $39,235 on meals, $108,489 on travel and $18,327 on accommodation between October 2008 and January 2009,” with a further $48,257 spent catering “off-site”meetings, it said.
“These people are out of control and nobody is providing any oversight,” according to Witmer.
Ontario health minister David Caplan said he was revoking Kramer’s appointment after, “many valid concerns have been raised regarding eHealth Ontario,” says the National Post, going on:
“Calls for Ms. Kramer’s resignation had been growing as opposition members accused Mr. Caplan of endorsing the lavish and questionable spending at eHealth Ontario through his inaction. Conservative party researchers obtained details of the contracts through Freedom of Information requests.”
Ron Sapsford, Deputy Minister of Health and Long Term Care, will now serve as acting president and chief executive officer of eHealth Ontario.
But that shouldn’ t be the end of it, story has Progressive Conservative party leader Bob Runicman declaring.
Caplan himself, “needed to step down,” he said, also suggesting Kramer should, “repay some of her compensation”.
“A so-called resignation on a Sunday afternoon that is clearly designed to avoid public scrutiny is simply not acceptable,” Runciman said in a written statement.
“The buck stops with Health Minister Caplan. He needs to quit now, and stop taking the easy way out by assuming he’s off the hook with Ms. Kramer gone. If he won’t leave on his own, the Premier should show him the door.”
Canadian Press – Ont. opposition demanding minister’s resignation over eHealth spending scandal, June 8, 2009
London Free Press – eHealth agency ‘out of control’, April 7, 2009
National Post – Ontario fires eHealth boss over spending scandal, June 8, 2009
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June 8th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Is the spam filter here blacklisting 0.0.0.0/0?
June 8th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
@Jon:
It should also be noted that Kramer received a $300,000 “separation package”, even though she had been forced to resign.
June 8th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Of course she did. It was from the bailout money.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
“Kramer came under scrutiny for a $114,000 bonus given to her after four months on the job and on top of her $380,000 salary. The amount was double the agency’s allowable rate for performance pay and triple the amount she made at her previous job as vice-president at Cancer Care Ontario.”
Plus
“Sarah Kramer was given a severance package worth about $317,000 after leaving her post as eHealth CEO and president on Sunday.”
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/06/08/ehealth-kramer.html
Her next job will be at the Conference Board of Canada.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I don’t understand the overlying issue here. So it costs money to bring in the best consultants in Canada who have been successful installing eheath records elsewhere. That’s a shock? That’s a scandal?
June 11th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Question: There are open source electronic health record systems (EHRs). OpenEMR is one, MirrorMed is another. They are free to use, have upgrades that are being shared by many, and will continue to be dynamically growing. And they have the best shot of being truly interoperable over the long term. And yet I haven’t heard a word about it around them in this story. Why not? THAT is the real scandal in my mind!
June 12th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I work in the healthcare industry in Ontario and I am discusted that physicians who are saving peoples lives are accountable in providing documentation for services that they have provided when submitting claims to the Minsitry of Health, yet they wait months on end before claims are resolved and paid. How would you like working say in December 2008 and it’s now June and you have not yet been paid. That is unacceptable, yet they have to just suck it up! There is something wrong with this picture! Consulants are scammers!
June 14th, 2009 at 10:44 am
We as taxpayers should ALL revolt against the government! Kramer was a scapegoat and the rest of the board, including Hudson and David Caplan should be FIRED! If you rob a bank in Canada you go to jail. If you rob TAXPAYERS MONEY YOU GET A BONUS!