Sask. NDP shares leaked memo showing doctors aren't being paid on time after AIMS rollout

The Saskatchewan NDP is sharing a leaked Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) memo revealing further issues with its costly new payment and scheduling software.

Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck and health-care critic Vicki Mowat held a news conference Wednesday to underscore the ongoing issues with the administrative information management system (AIMS).

In the memo, the SHA acknowledged some doctors weren’t being paid on time, which it attributed to “process changes” related to AIMS.

“Paying invoices correctly on time is an important priority for us. Moving to one provincial system will allow us to standardize and regularize invoicing procedures and payment timing across the province. We thank you for your patience and understanding as the teams work through these system changes.”

The SHA said a task force is working to resolve the issues.

“Our finance colleagues have been working tirelessly to troubleshoot the issues that caused this unexpected situation.”

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According to Beck, the people who shared the memo told her the affected doctors include those working in Saskatoon emergency rooms.

But Beck says doctors aren’t the only ones concerned that AIMS has missed the mark.

She’s received hundreds of messages from nurses who have issues getting paid the money they’re owed.

One nurse who spoke with CTV News on the condition of anonymity said her last cheque was a day late, which meant all the payments scheduled to come out of her account on payday were returned NSF.

That cost her $200, and she says she couldn’t get in touch with anyone in payroll.

“It’s incredibly frustrating. It makes you very angry because it’s like nobody cares. Like you don’t matter.”

AIMS was rolled out earlier this summer for the second time. Its initial launch in 2022 had to be aborted after one week due to serious software bugs.

The payment issues caused by AIMS make it hard to attract and keep health care workers in the province, Beck says.

“Stuff like this are reasons that we have some of the worse retention rates for healthcare workers in the entire country,” she said.

Mowat called on the government to adhere to the recommendations in a provincial auditor’s report released last fall, and investigate how the AIMS system was implemented.

Mowat says the new payment system has already proven costly for taxpayers.

“Healthcare workers aren’t getting paid and the cost of this train wreck program has tripled, from $86 million to at least $240 million,” she said.