ER doctors the latest casualties of SHA pay system, NDP says

Emergency room doctors are the latest Saskatchewan health-care workers affected by the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s second attempt to roll out a new pay system.

NDP leader Carla Beck and health critic Vicki Mowat last week released a leaked SHA letter, revealing that the Administrative Information Management System (AIMS) is again causing chaos.

At the end of June, the health authority launched the AIMS program for the second time after an attempted launch in November 2022 caused so many glitches and problems, including with paycheques, that the rollout was stopped and things were taken back to the drawing board.

“Stuff like this is the reason we have some of the worst rates of health-care worker retention in Canada. After 17 years, this tired and out-of-touch government can’t even get the basics right and pay our people on time,” said Beck in a news release.

“It’s time to get Saskatchewan out of last place on health care.”

The health-care workers who leaked the letter say that the late payments have affected doctors in all Saskatoon emergency rooms, lowering morale and worsening the chaos.

For some emergency room doctors, AIMS is the final straw that has them considering leaving Saskatchewan or cutting back their work hours.

Costs soar to a projected $240 million

Development of AIMS was started in 2018, with the total cost expected to have been $86 million. By the end of March 2023, $157 million had been spent on the system and the forecast cost to implement it was $240 million, according to a December 2023 auditor’s report.

“This is an ArriveCAN-level fiasco and the public deserves answers,” said Mowat, referring to the inordinately expensive federal app that was investigated by Canada’s auditor general and cost roughly $59.5 million after the contract was initially valued at just $2.35 million.

“If someone in the private sector went three times over budget and still didn’t deliver, they wouldn’t be patting themselves on the back. They’d be looking for work.”

The NDP wants the provincial auditor to investigate AIMS, which is being overseen by 3sHealth.

This is what healthcare workers are saying to us about the Sask. Party's second faulty AIMS roll-out.

Stuff like this is the reason we have some of the worst rates of healthcare worker retention in Canada. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/8dcIWDyeTl

— Vicki Mowat (@Vicki_Mowat_NDP) August 26, 2024

In a statement provided to media last week, Mark Anderson of 3sHealth said the “majority” of invoice payments are being successfully processed and paid but a “small number of physician invoices have been delayed during the transition”.

“We are highly committed to resolving the remaining issues as soon as possible,” Anderson said.

“Approximately 48,000 employees are paid every two weeks in the health sector through AIMS,” he said, adding that the error rates were “similar to the pre-AIMS period.”

President of CUPE local 5430 Bashir Jalloh told 980 CJME at the end of July that after two paycheques being issued that hundreds of his members were missing money — some more than $1,000.

“Most of our people live paycheque to paycheque and they have bills to pay, they have mortgages to pay, and if those monies aren’t showing up at the bank it’s a problem,” said Jalloh.

–with files from 980 CJME

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