Supplementing Health Care With Private Clinics Could Cut Wait Times, Study Finds

Successful Saskatchewan program that reduced wait times by 47 percent serves as a roadmap for other provinces, study authors say

The entrance to the emergency department at Peter Lougheed hospital in Calgary on Aug. 22, 2023. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

A successful Saskatchewan program could serve as a roadmap to tackling the ever-growing issue of long health-care wait times in Canada, says a new study from the Fraser Institute.

The province launched the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative (SSI) in 2010 to address escalating medical wait times by using private clinics for essential non-emergency surgical procedures such as knee and hip replacements.