B.C. hunts for wasteful spending in review of health authorities, starting with PHSA

British Columbia is reviewing health authority spending to ensure resources go to “critical patient services” and to minimize wasteful administrative costs.

Health Minister Josie Osborne said Monday that the government wants to ensure that all authorities are best positioned to tackle the “complex challenges” facing the health care system.

“There is no doubt that the health-care system is under a lot of strain right now,” she told reporters in Victoria on Monday.

“These reviews will be undertaken in a very thoughtful, structured way, with input from health-care providers so that we can do the best job possible, making the best use of all resources to deliver health care for British Columbians.”

The move comes amid a series of emergency room closures that have spread from rural communities to parts of the Lower Mainland.

BC Nurses Union vice-president Tristan Newby said the organization welcomed a review of the health system.

Newby, a registered nurse, said he couldn’t remember when B.C. last did a “holistic, system-wide assessment.”

“I think with any bureaucratic system, it’s prudent to do systematic reviews periodically, and we just haven’t seen that, and I’m confident that we will be able to see some efficiencies identified throughout this review,” he said Monday.

“We’re at a point now that we really need that, especially in the context of rolling out minimum nurse-patient ratios and a global nursing shortage.”

Newby said he expected the nurses union to play “an advisory role” in the reviews.

The ministry said in a news release that the Provincial Health Services Authority is the first to undergo the review because of its provincewide role across the health system.

That includes services through BC Cancer, BC Children’s Hospital, BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, BC Emergency Health Services, BC Mental Health and the BC Centre for Disease Control.

Osborne said every health authority in the province will be reviewed and that the government is committed to ensuring health authorities are functioning as effectively and efficiently as possible.

“We want to obviously take a very close look at administrative costs and make sure that the maximum use of dollars is going to the front line and delivering the services that British Columbians are counting on,” she told reporters.

Osborne said that she would “absolutely expect” the review to be done in the government’s current term, but noted there has been “no set timetable for the PHSA review.”

“I expect to get my first update in six weeks, and then regular updates after that.”

She noted that Cynthia Johansen will be stepping into the role of deputy minister at the Ministry of Health starting Wednesday. She comes to the position from the BC College of Nurses and Midwives.

“One of her first tasks will be to initiate those reviews of the health authorities,” Osborne said of Johansen.

The government’s news release said the PHSA’s president and CEO, David Byres, last week accepted a secondment reporting to Osborne to work on eliminating anti-Indigenous racism in health care.

It said Dr. Penny Ballem has stepped out of her role as board chair at Vancouver Coastal Health to serve as the PHSA’s interim president and CEO, and she will lead the review.

The release said Ballem will “make recommendations and associated changes as needed to reposition, streamline and optimize resources at the PHSA.”

Osborne defended Ballem’s appointment when questioned by reporters and again in the legislature Monday afternoon.

She told the legislature she has “full confidence” in the leaders chosen for the review.

“I have absolutely no problem standing up and defending the work that Dr. Ballem has been doing in the health-care sector for the past 35 years,” she said.

“She provides sound and sage advice to this government. I look forward to working with her and the review team, the board of PHSA and others, as we undertake a review that is incredibly important.”

Earlier Monday, she told reporters that Ballem was “uniquely positioned” for the role, noting she had served as B.C.’s deputy minister of health when the PHSA was created.

“She has seen the changes in evolution of the PHSA (throughout) all of these years, and her experience will play a really key role in helping to lead that review,” Osborne said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2025.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press