Head of eHealth Ontario fired amid contracts scandal
 Ontario Health Minister David Caplan has fired the controversial head of the electronic health records agency eHealth Ontario amid a multimillion-dollar contracts scandal.. MORE... |
Head of eHealth Ontario to receive $317K severance pay |
A Golden Handshake For Health Incompetence
June 7, 2009 — Raphael Alexander
Ontario Liberal Health Minister David Caplan finally threw a body under the bus to take the glare off of himself, and the victim was the one most complicit in the abuse of eHealth that has defrauded taxpayers of millions in a few short months. CEO Sarah Kramer has stepped down, resigned is what they’re calling it, after less than a year in the electronic health records company. Ms.Kaplan began her position with eHealth last November, leaving her position as vice-president of Cancer Care with only two days notice, but gave herself a hefty, and illegal, $114,000 bonus within four months of working for eHealth.
Now, it appears that Sarah Kramer will be able to walk away from the job she mangled, destroying public confidence in the crown corporation, with a golden handshake:
The embattled CEO of eHealth Ontario Sarah Kramer will receive nearly $317,000 in compensation after leaving the crown organization.
The decision on Kramer’s departure was mutual, said Steve Erwin, press secretary for Health Minister David Caplan.
Kramer, whose appointment as president and CEO of the agency was revoked Sunday, will receive the equivalent of 10 months’ salary under an agreement reached with eHealth’s board, officials confirmed.
That’s less than what she was entitled to under her contract, which would have included 15 months’ severance, an unspecified bonus and benefits, they said.
$317,000 is already an insulting amount of money to reward a person who is responsible for overseeing and allowing:
- A consultant who submitted an invoice for eight hours of work in which she said she consulted herself, then followed up with questions for herself.
- At least $2 million in untendered contracts were awarded by eHealth to long-time associates of agency chair Dr. Alan Hudson and CEO Kramer.
- An eHealth consultant billed for tea and a dessert square while earning $2,700 a day.
- Another consultant being paid $2,750 a day collected $75 a day for expenses, flying home to Edmonton 31 times in five months at a cost of nearly $21,000.
Health Minister David Caplan said that the severance was required to avoid any possible lawsuits by Ms.Kramer since her contract would have awarded her a 15-month severance package. It will be interesting to see if David Caplan, too, can avoid being thrown under the bus in this scandal. Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath said the optics of a generous compensation package adds insult to injury during a recession:
“It’s very apparent that she was removed for a reason, and I think that people will be outraged if they see yet another golden handshake.”
The worst part is that history will note that she has “decided to leave” the organization, instead of being publicly fired and rebuked for incompetence and abuse of taxpayers. For true justice, Ms.Kaplan should be held accountable for her mismanagement that borders on corruption. eHealth is the second electronic health records government boondoogle, after the first one blew through $650 million before being shut down without producing anything.
Sheesh. And I got audited for my $2,300 request for a tax return this year.
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