B.C. launches health authority efficiency review to minimize waste [Video]

British Columbia’s Ministry of Health says the province is reviewing health authority spending to ensure resources go to “critical patient services” and to minimize wasteful administrative costs.

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

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

The ministry says in a news release that the Provincial Health Services Authority is the first to undergo the review because of its province-wide 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 says every health authority in the province will be reviewed and that the government is committed …