Tuesday, March 31, 2015
St Joseph's Health Care London
St Joseph's 2015/16 Operating Plan
The Board of Directors of St. Joseph’s Health Care London has approved the 2015/16 $413 million budget.
On this $413 million budget, the gap for 2015/16 is $11.9 million. This is composed of $8.8 million in normal operations, $2.4 million in mental health care costs, and $.7 million in Transitional Care Unit costs. Operationally, items contributing to this gap include inflationary increases such as the cost of salaries and benefits, supplies and utilities, and the Health Based Allocation Model (HBAM) funding reduction.
To address the operating gap, St. Joseph’s implemented $6.1 million in permanent solutions including adjusting budgets to reflect actual spending, projecting revenue increases, leveraging process efficiencies, and changing how care and services are delivered in some areas while upholding quality and safety. The remaining gap of $5.76 million was covered by St. Joseph’s own funds.
“Delivering a sound budget takes months of dedication, planning and deliberation by staff and physicians,” says president and CEO Dr. Gillian Kernaghan. “Despite the financial pressures St. Joseph’s is under, I am pleased we were able to eliminate the budget gap without reducing patient care service volumes. While this year we covered $5.76 million in pressures with one-time funds, we cannot continue to do so. Therefore, for the 2016/17 budget year we will need to identify strategies to permanently save this $5.76 million.”
With 71 per cent of St. Joseph’s budget related to salary and benefit costs, it was not possible to avoid reducing positions when developing cost saving strategies. This year 24 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions were reduced through attrition and other mitigation strategies, including three leadership positions and one vice president role. There were no budget-related layoffs.
Media Contact:
Anne Kay
Communication and Public Affairs
519-646-6100 ext 42470, pager: 519-649-9238
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