Thursday, October 08, 2009

 

The tell-tale scent of corruption won't go away until we do the housecleaning, whenever and wherever corruption is suspected

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Police investigate former B.C. assistant deputy health minister


BY KATIE MERCER
THE PROVINCE - OCTOBER 7, 2009


The RCMP are investigating a former assistant deputy minister of health for an alleged breach of trust.

The force’s commercial crime unit alleges Ron Danderfer assisted a government consultant in defrauding the Ministry of Health and the Provincial Health Authority, according to a 99-page search warrant obtained by The Province from an NDP spokesperson.

Danderfer is alleged to have accepted a trip to Paris, stays at a Kelowna condo and an unspecified post-retirement income from Dr. Jonathan Burns.

Burns is the director of WebMed Technology Inc. and the inventor of Pixelere, a program that enables home-care nurses to photograph wounds on patients and send them to hospitals for diagnosis.

The company earned about $229,000 from the Fraser Health Authority for the device and another $251,000 in IT support invoices.

At the same time, Burns was being paid roughly $30,000 as a ministry adviser, while continuing to charge the Medical Services Plan as a doctor.

While he was billing the ministry for his WebMed contract, he was also rewarded [awarded] a contract from the Provincial Health Services Authority at $195 an hour to be an e-health advisor.

Danderfer had also allegedly tried to secure a $3.5-million contract with the University of B.C. for Burns. {Snip} ...

The documents also allege questionable dealings between Burns and Fraser Health official James Taylor.

Taylor, the manager of Network Services for Fraser Health, is alleged to have approved more than $500,000 in invoices for WebMed that went beyond the government contract.

He is also alleged to have accepted the free use of Burns’s Kelowna condominium, while securing a $72,000-a-year job for his wife and work for his daughter through Burns.

Danderfer’s wife, a former senior official with the Ministry of Children and Family Development, had also worked with WebMed, as had his daughter.

There has been no decision on whether formal charges will be laid against any of the parties.

kmercer@theprovince.com

MORE ON THIS STORY

June 2, 2009: Probe into health deals broadened
July 10, 2008: Critic lashes Liberals' e-data management
Dec. 12, 2007: NDP wants audit of investigation of former health minister

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Comments:
From CBC:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/10/07/bc-rcmp-investigation-burns-danderfer.html
 
E-Health Committee

http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library/publications/year/2005/ehealth_framework.pdf

MEMBERSHIP
The Committee consists of the following members:
Keith Anderson CEO, Fraser Health Authority
Bill Boomer CFO, Vancouver Island Health Authority
Jonathan Burns MD CCFP (EM)
Lynda Cranston CEO, Provincial Health Services Authority


Ron Danderfer....Assistant Deputy Minister, Knowledge Management and Technology
Peter Durrant Executive Director, eHealth Program
Joan Elangovan Executive Director, Corporate Management and Operations
Greg Feltmate CIO, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority
Nick Grant Executive Director, Planning and Innovation
Kendall Ho MD FRCPC
Chris Mazurkewich CFO, Interior Health Authority
Joseph Mendez CIO, Northern Health Authority
Kirsten Tisdale Senior Advisor, Alternative Service Delivery Secretariat
Martin Wright Executive Director, Evaluation and Strategic Directions


Ron Danderfer, Assistant Deputy Minister, Knowledge Management and Technology Division of the Ministry of Health

Kirsten Tisdale, Senior Advisor, Alternative Service Delivery
Secretariat, Ministry of Labour and Citizens’ Services, co-chair the Committee.

Page 103
 
Same pdf file.... the last paragraph is like letting the police investigate themselves only in this particular case....the Assistant Deputy Minister of Health is reporting the facts, somewhat cooked, to his boss .... and just who from the BC Liberals formed the Leadership Council?



REPORTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The Committee reports to the BC Health Leadership Council.

The Committee submits quarterly reports of progress made to the BC Health Leadership
Council.

Executive summaries of the reports will be transmitted to the Minister via the Deputy
Minister of the Ministry of Health.
 
Opall is gone as the AG responding to questions from the Opposition, on behalf of the Premier, on the subject of the BC Rail raid... NO COMMENT.

Mike De Jong is the new AG, the raid on the former Assistant Deputy of Health has now been completed by the RCMP with a 90 page report, so too for Doctor John Burns who's company is still receiving kickbacks.... alleged, from Kevin Falcon who is still answering questions.

However, if the special prosecutor does decide to lay charges, the all too familiar phrase NO COMMENT will be once more imposed upon FREE Speech in the legislature. At this rate, the BC Liberals will finally keep themselves from getting into trouble by being forced to keep their mouths shut on any topic.
 
I seem to remember that after the Basi Boys were caught running amuck in government, the BC Liberals changed how.....who... could be an employee. No relatives! And yet, that's exactly what happened at the Ministry of Health four years after the rules of engagement were changed when it came to the Public Servants of British Columbia.

The Assistant Deputy Minister managed to have his wife and daughter hired.... now how did that happen.....
 
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Anon 5:06,

Now you're scaring me. I can't recall legislation which says "no relatives" ...

and wouldn't this trigger a Boo and a Hiss from Human Rights?

Like, if my big sister got hired in the Public Affairs Bureau (outlandish notion, but for the sake of discussion) ...

then I could never aspire to being even the lowliest clerk among BC's 30,000 government employees?

Not ever? Unless and until she quit her job?

Seems like discrimination, doesn't it?
 
I would suggest that Jonathan Burns MD CCFP (EM), apparently STILL retained by the Falcon man to bring high tech solutions to government, isn't so much a technical whiz as he is a financial whiz ala Bill Gates. In other words some folks develop technology, others devise ways to maximize the money THEY can shovel into their pockets via technology.

I don't know what Doug Walls was trying to sell the government re: computer services a few years back, and maybe neither does government or Doug Walls. But in the case of Dr. Burns and his "Pixelere" system to allow home care nurses to submit pics of patients for diagnosis to doctors back at the mother ship (hospital?), I am not impressed.

I fail to see how a proprietary system of ONE PURPOSE device/gadgets would serve any better than a nurse armed with a laptop and digital camera. This use of common multi-function devices would also allow the nurse to keep her notes, patient files with him/her and of course communicate with anyone (doctors, specialists, relatives of the patient) from any patient's home that had at least a phone line. Of course, most people requiring visits from a home nurse feel obliged to have a phone in order to call for an ambulance if that should become necessary.

Maybe I missed my calling, and should be trying to sell IT services to government. It certainly seems as if they (governments) are suckers for anybody with lots of bells and whistles to sell, whether they are effective or practical or not!
 
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