By Katie Ryan
“I’ve had better days,” said Prairie North Health Region CEO, David Fan Thursday morning, the day after Saskatchewan released their financial vision for 2010-11.
“Let me put it this way, by all accounts this is a very tough budget for us. Next year is going to be very difficult.”
It’s going to be a challenging 2010-11 for PNHR – the region is faced with a $5 million shortfall – despite Saskatchewan’s increase in funding for health.
Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer is boosting health care funding by three per cent, or $127 million, to $4.2 billion for the 2010-11 fiscal year. But, according to Fan, it’s not enough.
The province’s 12 regional health authorities will receive $2.6 billion, which is an increase of five per cent or $123 million, however Fan said the region needs more to deliver quality health care.
“If we want to maintain the status quo, basically doing exactly what we have always done and look after the contractual obligations as a result of contracts, we typically would need eight per cent,” he said.
Fan said PNHR will receive approximately $163 million this year, which in “real terms” is a 4.6 per cent increase.
“The majority of that 4.6 per cent, as you may expect, will go to collective agreements, specifically the nurses’ contract and the benefits that go with it,” he said.
“There is not a lot left for anything else.”
PNHR’s funding predicament is further compounded by Alberta Health Services , who is allotting the region less than anticipated.
“We submitted the budget to Alberta Services for about $30 million to maintain status quo in Lloydminster this year, we are only getting $27 million, so we are already short $3 million from Alberta,” he said.
Along with the rest of Saskatchewan’s RHAs, the PNHR has also been asked to meet “efficiency targets,” which requires all health regions to save money and cut costs in specific areas. Fan said PNHR knew that such a request was going to be made but is struggling to find ways to carve out savings.
The three areas to be trimmed in the region include the utilization of sick time and overtime, shared services and operations, or “everything that we do” said Fan, referring to the region’s programming and services, and how they are provided.
PNHR is expected to reduce the amount of money spent on sick time and overtime by 10 per cent or $1 million, from the $10 million spent in the 2009-10 fiscal year. In total, PNHR is mandated to find an estimated $2.3 million in “efficiencies” in the coming 2010-11 fiscal year – a difficult feat to achieve said Fan.
The 2009-10 fiscal year comes to an end in a matter of weeks and while Fan expects the region will balance its books for this year, 2010-11 is looking red with what he calls the “combined funding shortfall” between Alberta and Saskatchewan – to the tune of $5 million.
“It’s fair to say, everything is on the table. What is not on the table is wholesale facility closure - that we are not going to do - but it is fair to say we are going to look at all of the beds we have in operation and the programs. If we are going to be looking at being $5 million short, we have to look everywhere,” he said.
Capital funding for new projects has already been deferred. Now that PNHR has hard numbers to work with, Fan said the region’s 2010-11 budget will be put before the board for final approval by the end of May.
“It’s hard to say at this point as to where we are going to find the savings. Of course we will try not to affect patients and services as much as possible, but when you are looking at the magnitude of the funding shortfall, at this point I cannot even speculate as to how we are even going to deal with it,” said Fan.