Latest news with #Mentzelopoulos
Global News
26-06-2025
- Business
- Global News
MHCare Medical calls for release of audit related to Alberta health contract allegations
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook An Alberta company swept up in allegations of government corruption says it's being further harmed by the suppression of a report it believes will exonerate them. Medical supply company MHCare Medical is calling on the province's front-line health provider to release an audit into health contracts commissioned by its former chief executive officer. MHCare believes the audit from former Alberta Health Services head Athana Mentzelopoulos may provide concrete proof allegations against its CEO are baseless. Mentzelopoulos is suing Premier Danielle Smith's government for wrongful dismissal, claiming she was fired for looking into questionable, overpriced contracts. 1:51 Alberta's auditor general says he needs extra funding for AHS probe MHCare is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but contracts it had with AHS were part of the examination by a law firm that is referenced in court documents. Story continues below advertisement The province has denied any wrongdoing, arguing in court documents that Mentzelopoulos was fired for poor job performance and for dragging her feet on health-care reforms. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The contracts are the focus of three investigations, and MHCare says the repeated delays are unfair as the allegations tarnish their reputation and leave CEO Sam Mraiche with no chance to clear his name.
Calgary Herald
11-06-2025
- Health
- Calgary Herald
AHS lawsuit: Mentzelopoulos seeks expedited ruling on the legality of her firing
The former head of Alberta Health Services (AHS) is seeking to expedite her wrongful dismissal lawsuit by asking a judge to focus on the legality of how she was fired, a move that would keep the case from going to trial if granted. Article content Athana Mentzelopoulos is suing AHS and the provincial government for wrongful dismissal and seeking $1.7 million in damages. Article content Article content On Monday, lawyers for Mentzelopoulos filed an application for summary judgment in Court of King's Bench in Edmonton, alleging that Health Minister Adriana LaGrange orchestrated her Jan. 8 firing by then-deputy minister of health and AHS board member Andre Tremblay, but that both lacked the authority to do so. Article content Article content 'Only the AHS Board or the executive chair (or) chair had the authority to terminate her employment,' the application states, citing Mentzelopoulos' employment agreement with AHS. Article content Article content 'Her employment was improperly terminated by Mr. Tremblay acting without AHS authority and solely on the order of Minister LaGrange.' Article content The application seeks to narrow the focus of the legal proceedings to if the employment agreement was properly followed when Mentzelopoulos was fired, and is next scheduled to be before a judge on July 15. In the court documents, Mentzelopoulos newly alleges she was not invited to a Jan. 7 AHS board meeting organized by LaGrange, and that her exclusion led her to believe the meeting was called to have the board terminate her employment. Article content Mentzelopoulos claims she learned that LaGrange was unable to convince enough board members at that meeting to fire her, and that the minister told the board she would, 'have Andre do it.' Article content Article content 'Having failed in her attempt to cause AHS to terminate Mentzelopoulos, Minister LaGrange took it upon herself to do so, making the unilateral decision to require Mr. Tremblay to purport to terminate Mentzelopoulos, even though both he and she knew that he had no authority to do so,' the application reads. Article content It states at least three board members, including former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Lyle Oberg, would support Mentzelopoulos's claims. Article content All board members were dismissed on Jan. 31, and Tremblay was announced as the official administrator of AHS. The organization has since seen its scope reduced as part of the government's restructuring of the health care system.
Calgary Herald
15-05-2025
- Health
- Calgary Herald
Alberta premier's ex-chief of staff sues former AHS CEO, newspaper over health contracting corruption allegations
Article content Premier Danielle Smith's former chief of staff has jumped into the fray over allegations of corruption in health care procurement, filing a $12-million lawsuit against ex-Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos and the Globe and Mail for what he claims are defamatory statements. Article content Article content Marshall Smith (no relation to the premier) filed a statement of claim in Edmonton Court of King's Bench Wednesday against the Globe, Mentzelopoulos and an unidentified person Smith claims is a former member of the AHS board of directors. Article content Article content While not a defendant in Mentzelopoulos's bombshell lawsuit, which alleges she was wrongfully dismissed for investigating alleged corruption in health-care contracting, Smith claims Mentzelopoulos and the Globe have portrayed him 'in the worst possible light.' Article content Article content 'The damage to Smith's professional reputation caused by Mentzelopoulos has resulted in Smith suffering emotional distress, stress, depression, anxiety, embarrassment, loss of reputation, humiliation and an inability to secure work in his chosen profession,' the statement of claim reads. Article content As someone who is not a party to Mentzelopoulos's initial lawsuit, her allegations about him are 'gratuitous, irrelevant and are unnecessary,' the claim adds. Article content 'Smith is not afforded the opportunity to respond to these false statements or to provide a statement of defence denying and responding to such false statements.' Article content Smith, who stepped down as the premier's chief of staff last fall after a tenure which often saw him as the public face of Alberta's addictions treatment policies, accused the defendants of inaccurately painting him as a 'corrupt' 'bully' who engaged in criminal activity. Article content Article content The claim calls the allegations against Smith 'malicious in nature and advanced in an attempt to knowingly bolster (Mentzelopoulos's) false narrative that she was terminated from AHS because she was investigating wrongdoing in respect of AHS's procurement of chartered surgical facilities.' Article content Article content Statements of claim contain allegations that have not been proven in court. Article content AHS and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange have denied wrongdoing, alleging in a statement of defence that Mentzelopoulos was incompetent and had become distracted by investigations they say had produced no results, at the expense of critical health-care reforms.
Calgary Herald
09-05-2025
- Health
- Calgary Herald
Lorne Gunter: Alberta NDP also has ties to company at centre of health-care controversy
Hmm. Curious. Article content Article content I remember being a little surprised by the NDP's over-the-top reaction to allegations levelled against the UCP government by former Alberta Health Services (AHS) CEO, Athana Mentzelopoulos, in a lawsuit she brought against the government back in February. Article content Mentzelopoulos's allegations were serious but unproven. She claimed she was wrongfully dismissed by the government of Premier Danielle Smith earlier this year because she was about to investigate the possibility that UCP politicians and government officials were engaged in wide-ranging corruption, including overpaying for surgeries in private surgical clinics and paying full price ($75 million), upfront, for millions of bottles of Turkish Tylenol during the 2022 North American shortage of painkillers, especially for children. Article content Article content New Democratic Leader Naheed Nenshi immediately went ballistic. Based on nothing more than sensational claims levelled by one side in a contentious lawsuit, Nenshi insisted Mentzelopoulos's assertions were 'the most shocking allegations that I have ever seen.' Article content Article content Now here's what's curious: Mraiche and MHCare likely had equally strong ties to the NDP, both while the New Democrats were in office and afterwards. Article content Article content Sources have provided Postmedia with photographs of Mraiche and senior NDP ministers when they were in government, as well as after they lost to the UCP in 2019. The photos appear to show a very close personal connection to the NDP, particularly former Premier Rachel Notley and former Education Minister David Eggen — every bit as close as the UCP ties Nenshi descried as 'very, very strong.' Article content Article content As MHCare pointed out in an eight-page letter sent April 8 to Jobs, Economy and Trade Deputy Minister Christopher McPherson — a copy of which has also been obtained by Postmedia — over the years, the company has carried out several successful contracts for the provincial health service. Its contracts have always been made directly with AHS, not with the government of the day. Article content There are photos of Notley and Eggen at a private party at Mraiche's home while both were still in government and a photo of Notley with her husband, union organizer Lou Arab, at Mraiche's home nearly two years after the NDP left office.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Acute Care Alberta extends contract with private surgery clinic at centre of conflict of interest probes
The Alberta agency overseeing acute care has granted a six-month contract extension to a private surgical clinic whose previous provincial government contracts are the subject of several ongoing probes. In a $1.7-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed in February, ousted former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos alleges she received political pressure to renew contracts with chartered surgical facilities (CSFs) that she believed were overpriced. Her lawsuit alleges she had been fired after launching an investigation into various contracts with links to government officials. Alberta's auditor general, Alberta Health Services (AHS) and a retired Manitoba judge appointed by the province are among the agencies investigating the province's health procurement and contracting processes. Mentzelopoulos raised concerns about several issues with different contracts, including a orthopedic surgery contract signed with an Edmonton-based company, Alberta Surgical Group (ASG). She alleges AHS was paying higher rates per procedure compared to other vendors. Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange and AHS have filed statements of defence in the Court of King's Bench, denying the allegations. They said Mentzelopoulos was fixated on suspicions of wrongdoing, and standing in the way of the government's plan to restructure Alberta's health system. Mentzelopoulos has refuted these claims. Neither Alberta Surgical Group, nor any of the company's owners, responded to requests for comment about the contract extension on Wednesday. The company has previously denied any conflicts or wrongdoing. Health minister says Edmonton needs surgical capacity When the allegations became public in February, an AHS spokesperson said the authority had paused the awarding of surgical contracts under review, then later clarified that the pause was limited to "new surgical contracts." ASG was under contract from November 1, 2022, to April 30, 2025, to perform orthopedic surgeries in the Edmonton area. The maximum value of the contract for the entire time period is listed at about $70.5 million, but details of each procedure's cost are redacted from the publicly posted agreement. Alberta Surgical Group has a private surgical clinic in Heritage Valley, on Edmonton's south side. It has contracts with public health agencies to perform publicly funded orthopedic and ear, nose and throat surgeries. (Jamie McCannel/CBC) On April 1, the government transferred the authority to sign surgical contracts over to the new Acute Care Alberta agency, which will be responsible for overseeing hospital-based care and CSFs in the province. On Monday, LaGrange's press secretary said Acute Care Alberta had extended ASG's contract for six months. In the legislature on Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith said the many ongoing investigations had delayed the startup of a new private surgical centre scheduled to open on the Enoch Cree Nation, just west of Edmonton. "We're not going to cancel thousands of surgeries for hip and knee replacements," she said. LaGrange told reporters Wednesday the Enoch facility had already won a bid to provide surgeries in the Edmonton area once it was up and running, which it is expected to be in 2026. Her press secretary said in a statement that extending the contract with ASG for six months gives Acute Care Alberta time to finish contract negotiations with Enoch, and allows retired Manitoba Justice Raymond Wyant's government-ordered investigation to conclude. LaGrange said Wednesday the province needs to keep thousands of surgeries going at ASG to tackle the long wait times for orthopedic procedures. "While we are completing over 60 per cent [of surgeries] in clinically approved times, we want that number to get to 100 per cent," she said. Cost of contract extension not public The details of the contract aren't yet public. Alberta Health Services has posted copies of previous CSF contracts online, including details such as the estimated total cost, and the maximum cost the vendor can charge for services. Neither LaGrange nor Acute Care Alberta would say how much the contract is for, the cost per procedure, or the volume and type of procedures ASG is expected to perform. Acute Care Alberta spokesperson Holly Budd said a version of the contract will be posted publicly once it is "fully executed." LaGrange said Alberta is moving to a health funding model where service providers are paid based on the volume of work they do partly to shed more light on the cost of care. NDP health critic Sarah Hoffman told reporters Wednesday it is "completely inappropriate" for a provincial agency to extend a contract with ASG while so many related investigations are underway. Hoffman said health agencies had time to formulate a backup plan to provide surgeries elsewhere. "We have hospital operating rooms that aren't working full capacity. They could staff up and properly move forward with public health care, but they're choosing to continue full speed ahead at privatization, and that's wrong," she said. While criticizing public hospitals' ability to complete more surgeries, the government has also made it more difficult for AHS to do procedures, Hoffman said, including an unwillingness to pay for overnight coverage for patients to have joint replacement surgeries at the Royal Alexandra Hospital's Orthopedic Surgical Centre. Keeping secret the details of the contracts also fosters public distrust, Hoffman said.
