The B.C. government continues to pay out taxpayer dollars to a company at the centre of an alleged kickback scheme in one of its ministries.
The Ministry of Health Services confirmed yesterday that Dr. Jonathan Burns and his company Pixalere Healthcare Inc. are being paid more than $300,000 a year by four regional health authorities. The money covers maintenance, support, licensing and hosting costs for wireless diagnostic software -- despite the fact Burns is under investigation for alleged fraud and influence peddling.
An RCMP warrant for a search of Burns's office alleges he double-billed the Health Ministry tens of thousand of dollars in 2007. At the time, he was the head of Pixalere -- then known as WebMed Technologies -- lobbying to get his software approved for use, while at the same time serving as a consultant to government on its electronic health records program.
The search warrant also alleges that Burns offered favours to former assistant deputy health minister Ron Danderfer, who oversaw the province's multimillion-dollar eHealth initiative. According to allegations in the warrant, Burns hired Danderfer's wife and daughter, offered the family use of his private Kelowna condominium, and offered a trip to Paris. In turn, it's alleged Danderfer helped inflate Burns's expenses and raised his consulting fee to $195 an hour.
No one has been criminally charged. A special prosecutor overseeing the case said charges of fraud, influence peddling and breach of trust could be laid within the next month.
Danderfer and his wife, a senior official in the Ministry of Children and Family Development, were suspended in the summer of 2007, and retired that October. His son and daughter are still government employees.
Yesterday, Health Minister Kevin Falcon called the allegations "damaging" and a "huge disappointment" for those who work in the public service. He acknowledged that a reasonable person, looking at the search warrant, would conclude that public health dollars were misappropriated.
But he cautioned that the allegations have yet to be proven in court, and characterized the problems as the actions of a small group of "allegedly rogue individuals."
Despite the allegations, the Fraser, Interior, 91原创 Coastal and Northern health authorities continue to pay for Burns's Pixalere software, said Health Ministry spokeswoman Michelle Stewart.
91原创 Coastal Health has equipped home-care nurses and staff at some residential-care facilities with the software so they can document and photograph wounds. The information is then sent over the Internet for experts to examine, said spokesman Gavin Wilson, who called it "an extremely useful tool."
The B.C. government has "severed all personal service contracts" with Burns, Stewart said. But she acknowledged that each health authority still pays an annual fee to use the software.
"There's a need to separate the allegations from the product," she said.
Alberta Health Services spokesman Bruce Conway confirmed his government also has 440 users of the Pixalere software, mainly centred around Edmonton, and pays an undisclosed annual licensing fee.
Company records show Burns remains a director of Abbotsford-based Pixalere, as recently as September. Burns was listed as president of the company in 2007 when it was named WebMed Technology Inc. Burns's lawyer did not return a call for comment.
Pixalere president Ken Hendsbee also did not return a call.
