VANCOUVER —Telus Health and Harrison Healthcare are in talks with B.C.’s medical services watchdog to settle their respective legal cases outside of the courtroom, the latest moves in a battle between public and private health care in the province. Here’s what you need to know: 

Catch up quick: Telus Health, a Telus division that mostly provides telehealth services, also offers a program called Life Plus. Under the service, about 4,000 patients pay an annual fee in the thousands of dollars for a family doctor and other types of care at a Telus clinic. In December, the Medical Services Commission filed for an injunction against the program, alleging it contravenes the Medicare Protection Act.

Harrison Healthcare, which also charges annual fees, received a similar injunction in February. 

Both companies denied the allegations.

Behind the scenes: Neither company has submitted a response to the watchdog by deadline, according to online court records, despite each party receiving at least one extension.

“We are in dialogue with the MSC at the moment,” said Don Copeman, Harrison Healthcare’s founder and chair, in an email to The Logic.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix revealed Telus Health is in discussions with the MSC and the ministry, as first reported by The Tyee earlier this week.

What’s next: As the matter is also in the court system, all parties have been tight-lipped.

Harrison’s Copeman said that any response from his company will depend on what comes from the current discussions. Telus Health did not respond to a request for comment.

The commission said in February it’s also investigating other private healthcare services.

An outlier: Protecting public healthcare has been a major priority for the province’s NDP government. It even got a shout out in this year’s budget.

Health Minister Dix said in a statement to The Logic that “preventing double-billing is a critical part” of the government’s plans to uphold universal health care, and that privatizing publicly insured services is illegal and worsens the public system’s quality.

Elsewhere in the country, Ontario and Alberta have both been expanding private healthcare. The federal government recently stepped in by clawing back federal transfers over private care.

Meanwhile: On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed a leave for appeal from Cambie Surgeries, a Vancouver private surgical centre. In 2009, the centre’s president filed a legal challenge to allow people to pay out of pocket for health services. In September 2020, the B.C. Supreme Court dismissed the case, and the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld that ruling in July 2022. 

The decision “affirms our ongoing efforts to preserve and uphold our public health-care system,” Dix said in a statement. The clinic did not immediately respond to The Logic’s request for comment.