SHA begins process to find private provider for orthopedic surgeries

The Saskatchewan government is looking for a third-party provider to help cut into surgical wait times in the province.

On Monday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to find a partner to do as many as 3,000 elective orthopedic surgeries per year in Regina.

The provincial government said in July it would be issuing the RFP this month.

The government said the proposal requires a standalone orthopedic surgery facility that would increase operating room and bed capacity for in-patient joint replacements, as well as a variety of day surgery orthopedic procedures.

The surgeries would be publicly funded over the length of the agreement, which is expected to be five years to start. The government is looking to award and sign a contract this fall and to have the surgeries started on or before Dec. 31, 2023.

“To successfully tackle the waitlist for orthopedic surgeries, including hip and knee replacements, it’s essential to work with our third-party providers,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a media release.

“Saskatchewan has forged very successful relationships with third parties for several years to provide publicly funded, privately delivered surgeries, which serve to add capacity for the system.”

According to the government, there are about 8,000 patients waiting for joint replacements in Saskatchewan, with the majority of those in Saskatoon and Regina.

The RFP says between March 22, 2020 and Oct. 23 of last year, COVID resulted in 27,000 fewer surgeries being done compared to a similar time frame prior to the pandemic.

“In order to address the COVID-related backlog and return to a pre-COVID wait list in a timely fashion, projections are that volumes of surgery need to increase by an average 10,000 (or 10 per cent) additional surgeries annually over the next three years as well as meeting ongoing increasing demand,” the proposal said.

“While every effort is being made to maximize surgical capacity in existing hospitals, the situation requires leaders to investigate new ideas and sources of surgical resources in order to meet elevated demand in the short and long term.”

The government said third-party providers have done more than 128,000 publicly funded surgeries in Saskatchewan since 2010-11.

The deadline for submissions for the RFP is Sept. 12 at 2 p.m.