Edmonton – Official Opposition Health critic Kevin Taft says bonuses at Alberta Health Services should come to an end.

In 2008-09, Alberta Health Services (AHS) handed out hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses, despite admitting in a letter that performance measures were difficult to assess. Documents acquired by the Official Opposition indicate that AHS used something called the “Calgary Region Balanced Scorecard” to determine how bonuses would be handed out – in a year when AHS tripled their deficit to nearly $300 million.

The smallest bonus was $19,000. The largest was just under $130,000.

“How can you hand out five- and six-figure bonuses when you can’t even measure performance?” asks Taft. “And what is the Calgary Region Balanced Scorecard? What does it measure? And how can these bonuses be justified in a year when the deficit was tripled?”

Taft thinks it’s especially ironic that huge bonuses are being given to senior officials when AHS’ own recent workforce engagement survey shows that only ten percent of physicians have trust and confidence that AHS can achieve its goals.

“AHS executives who are already earning generous six-figure salaries shouldn’t need additional incentives to do their jobs, especially when most public servants are facing wage freezes,” Taft says.

Taft also warned that the current bonus structure can easily distort decision-making, favouring short-term solutions over long-term planning.

“Medical decisions about resource allocation should not be tainted by the prospect of bonuses,” Taft says. “People inside the system are telling me that some crucial services are getting short-changed because resources are being put into areas that will ensure executives get their bonuses. That’s not fair to Albertans, and it’s not good for our public health care system in the long term.”

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Attached: AHS bonus letters, Hansard excerpts

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