N.L. spent $1.1M on forensic audit of travel nurse agency payments, findings remain off limits to public

In the wake of the pandemic, travel nurses were hired to help keep health facilities and hospitals in Newfoundland running, including the James Paton Memorial Regional Health Centre in Gander. (CBC)Social SharingNewfoundland and Labrador health officials are keeping details of an external forensic audit of payments made to a travel nursing agency under wraps — at least for now.

The province’s health authority paid Deloitte LLP nearly $1.1 million to conduct the audit, according to records obtained by CBC Investigates through access to information.

There were five payments in total to Deloitte; the first in September 2025, with the last invoice — described as “final” — dated in early February of this year.

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services recently rejected a CBC access-to-information request for the audit's findings.

The health authority cited a discretionary section of the law that allows policy advice or recommendations to be withheld.

According to that same section of the law, officials can’t refuse to disclose “a final report or final audit on the performance or efficiency of a public body or on any of its programs or policies.”

In its Aug. 21 response denying access, the health authority wrote: “Content experts with NLHS have advised that the report is not yet finalized.”

NLHS did not provide a response to CBC questions sent Aug. 31 about when the report will be finalized and why it’s not now, given the fact the final payment invoice was dated more than seven months ago.

Health officials also did not provide details on who the “content experts” are, or their area of expertise.

According to the NLHS request for proposals, the initial deadline for the audit report to be delivered was Sept. 30, 2025.

“Any extension beyond [that date] would be considered for extraordinary or unusual circumstances, at sole discretion of NLHS,” the documents noted.

Deloitte was called in after last summer’s stinging report by Auditor General Denise Hanrahan on travel nurse spending.

Hanrahan found that a company — dubbed “Agency A” in her report — billed taxpayers tens of millions over a span of three years.

Records obtained by CBC Investigates show that Agency A is Canadian Health Labs. That company had contracts to provide travel nurses in the province, who filled vacancies after the pandemic.

Denise Hanrahan, Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general, released a report in June 2025 related to spending on agency nurses within Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services. (Ted Dillon/CBC)The AG’s report “found many of the items reimbursed to be non-compliant.” 

That included expenses charged to taxpayers such as a milk frother, food processor and an air fryer.

Hanrahan also highlighted concerns about electric vehicle rentals charged to the health authority by Agency A, saying there were “strong indications of potential billing fraud.”

In response to a subsequent CBC Investigates story about those EV rentals, CHL sent a statement: “We have completed a thorough internal review of the matters referenced and are satisfied that NLHS was billed accurately for services provided.”

And the agency defended its contracts in a 2024 Globe and Mail story, saying they “reflect the extraordinary logistical challenges of getting and keeping health-care professionals in rural, remote and underserved communities.”

According to the AG’s report, Agency A received $73.6 million from the province over a three-year period from 2022 to 2024.

Hanrahan recommended that NLHS “complete an immediate comprehensive audit of all amounts paid to Agency A from April 2022 to present, to recover public funds paid in error.”

Canadian Health Labs did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

More than a year ago, then-NLHS CEO Pat Parfrey told a legislative committee that any next steps would depend on the findings of the audit.

“The intent will be that the auditor would report back to us at the end of September [2025], and then a decision will be made concerning whether there was potentially fraudulent activity and how we would refer to the appropriate agencies,” Parfrey said.

When questioned by reporters this April, then-health minister Lela Evans said the audit was “nearing completion,” but noted the importance of not rushing it.

“If we can release it, we will be releasing it,” she said. “This government ran on transparency and we will be transparent. The only thing that will keep us from actually sharing it with the public would be if there's any legal action being taken.”

Evans added: “If there was wrongdoing, people have to actually be accountable.”

A new minister, Joedy Wall, took over the health portfolio last month.

Officials in his department steered CBC inquiries about the audit back to NLHS.

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.

Rob Antle is senior producer with the CBC's Atlantic Investigative Unit, based in St. John's.