Province announces $10M for North Bay's hospital

The Ontario government is chipping in $10 million for the North Bay Regional Health Centre.

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said Friday the funding includes both a $2.2 million reimbursement for the hospital’s lost revenue during the pandemic and a one-time $8 million top-up to address additional operating and financial pressures.

"This really allows them now to focus on health and safety rather than worrying about how they are going to pay the bills. This $10 million is really going to shore up the finances," Fedeli said.

The funding is in addition to the $2.6 million in COVID-19 reimbursements announced in January, $1.9 million in March, and $2.4 million in additional operating funds announced for the 2021/22 year.

"Our government will continue to make historic investments in health care, so everyone has access to timely, quality care that is close to home," said Fedeli.

Hospital president and CEO Paul Heinrich said the money consists of two components. The first amount is to cover unrealized non-ministry revenues, including retail, that are critical to the hospital's sustainability. The second amount represents recognition by the province of the hospital’s underlying structural deficit related to funding levels.

"At a certain point in time, the enterprise we have, it really started to have a potential negative impact, one that we didn't act upon and one we won't have act upon now," Heinrich said.

"The receipt of these funds removes the burden of financial uncertainty and will allow our team to focus on providing the best care for our patients."

Heinrich said the next step is to free up hospital beds and continue to move senior patients into long-term care homes.

"We're going to have perpetual COVID in long-term care and hospitals and it can't be a reason to shut down processes. It has to be part of normal life," he said.

The funding is part of the Ontario government's overall investment of over $1.2 billion to help hospitals recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Hospitals have felt financial challenges not only through direct costs, but also through the loss of other forms of revenue such as parking and the reduction of retail services, all of which contribute to patient care and support clinical services," said Fedeli.