Ontario's Hospitals Forced To Make Critical Choices About Services They Can No Longer Provide
Ontario Hospital Association
200 Front Street West, Suite 2800
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3L1
Tel: (416) 205-1345 Fax: (416) 205-1360
Visit our Web Site: http://www.oha.com
Friday, September 3, 2004
TORONTO – The Ontario Hospital Association is alerting the Ontario public that a substantial funding shortfall will mean that patients and their communities will see significant changes and reductions in the services provided by hospitals.
Hospitals are now required to balance their budgets, even if that requires the reduction or elimination of certain services. "Some of these cuts have the potential to leave patients adrift with no alternative place to go for care," said OHA President and CEO Hilary Short.
For the first time, the Ontario government has identified a list of hospital services that cannot be cut. This means that hospitals will be forced to choose from remaining, unprotected services to help balance budgets, in addition to ongoing administrative savings and system-wide efficiencies.
According to an OHA survey in early August, Ontario's hospitals are facing deficits in excess of $600 million this year, as a result of operating costs which are forecast to increase by eight per cent for 2004-05. Driving these costs is a growing and aging population; cost increases for medical supplies and equipment; rising drug costs; rising physician payments; cost increases for utilities, insurance and food; and wage, salary and benefit increases for nurses and other health care professionals.
These operating costs are growing almost entirely due to factors outside of hospitals' direct control. Yet despite the funding shortfall, the government of Ontario is distributing interim agreements to every hospital in Ontario, which requires all hospitals to balance their budgets at all costs. Hospitals are required to submit their recovery plans to the government within 30 days, which commits them to balancing their budgets next year, without knowing what their funding allocations will be.
"We will know very shortly what exact steps hospitals will be forced to take," said Short.
"Ontario's hospitals are being forced to make some very difficult choices about the type and level of care they can continue to provide patients. Without adequate funding that covers the true cost of providing care to patients, hospitals will be forced to cut services and waiting times will increase."
- 30 -
For further information:
Stefan Baransk, OHA Public Affairs
416-205-1305