Niverville teams up with private partners to construct MRI clinic

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This article was published 16/08/2017 (2451 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Town of Niverville has struck up a rather unusual public-private partnership in order to facilitate a new MRI in Manitoba.

The hope is that the new magnetic resonance imaging machine, expected to be up and running by fall 2018, will help cut down wait times across the province. As of this spring, the Manitoba average was 24 weeks with some people needing a scan waiting as many as 29 weeks.

“We’re absolutely committed to finding a third way — not private, not public, but a community-grounded, innovative solution for the common good,” said Gordon Daman, a member of the non-profit Niverville Heritage Holdings Inc. (NHHI) board, which brokered the deal with the town, Liver Care Canada, and two individuals: Felipe Campusano and Yves Kimbo.

The total cost for the project is estimated at somewhere between $4 and $5 million and will include construction of a diagnostic centre outfitted with not just an MRI, but an ultrasound, x-ray machine and lab services as well.

“We believe we’re providing a very reasonable option,” Daman said.

NHHI believes the Niverville clinic, 30 kilometres south of Winnipeg, will be ideally located to absorb third-party insurers, such as Manitoba Public Insurance and Workers Compensation Board clients, as well as professional athletes who currently pay fees to get guaranteed MRI times in Winnipeg.

By taking on those patients, Daman said he thinks the public system will be freed up to offer between 2,500 or so additional scans per year.

Still, it’s a risk. NHHI hasn’t spoken to the Workers Compensation Board or the professional athletes. It also hasn’t touched base with the province beyond a cursory notification that it would be announcing the project this week.

Indeed, a spokeswoman for health minister Kelvin Goertzen said his office couldn’t comment as they hadn’t yet reviewed the project. A spokeswoman for Manitoba Health echoed those remarks.

“We didn’t have any type of formal negotiations with them because we felt this was a third way,” said Daman, by way of explanation.

In addition to hoping to provide scans for those currently receiving guaranteed MRI times in Winnipeg, he said the centre will also offer paid MRIs for those who have a requisition from their physician.

For a $50 administration fee, the NHHI’s community health services will give the requisition to diagnostic services who will return with a price, typically around $1,000 depending on what the doctor has required. There will be discounts of up to 25 per cent off depending on which Manitoba tax bracket a person falls under. Discounts stop when a person earns $67,000 or more.

Daman is confident there will be no trouble regulating the service with the province and Health Canada; after all, the Pan Am Clinic in Winnipeg — where the bulk of third-party MRIs are scheduled — was once private before the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority took it over.

“We’re actually quite confident that this makes so much sense for the province,” he said.

And if it doesn’t, Daman said the Town of Niverville won’t be left footing the bill. Per the legal agreement, Liver Care Canada, Campusano and Kimbo are assuming the entirety of the financial risk. Campusano is a pharmacist, while Kimbo is a Niverville local involved in several medical clinics in Regina.

Daman said the agreement spells out how the company will construct the building, bring in the MRI and all other equipment, and — in 25 years — donate it back to the town. There are even clauses should they try not to donate.

Given the 15-18 year lifespan of the machine, the deal means the town will end up with the building, the diagnostic centre and a relatively new MRI, Daman said.

It isn’t the town’s first foray into the unusual: when it needed a personal care home but didn’t have a large enough aging population to warrant the government stepping in, Niverville stepped up. It bought an old personal care home, obtained a licence, lobbied the province and then built the province’s first community-funded care home, an 80-bed, $13.8 million endeavour that officially opened four years ago this month.

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca