For Immediate Release:
March 8, 2010
Queens Park – Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett is concerned about the potential impact of a new approach to hospital funding announced in today’s Ontario Throne Speech.
“From what we’ve heard from stakeholders the new funding formula in typical McGuinty fashion would choose winners and losers – and we in rural Ontario know all too well what end of the stick we end up with under this government,” stated Barrett. “the Ontario Health Coalition is also quoted as indicating expanding pay-for-performance to small hospitals would lead to further disparities between the level of care available in rural versus urban Ontario.”
The new approach to funding mentioned earlier today would reportedly do away with the global hospital budgets under the so-called Health Based Allocation Model (HBAM). The proposed model is expected to also reward better-performing hospitals. They would be in line for additional money based on how cost-effectively they treat patients.
“I will await the details, but based on the early returns I remain concerned that this will place our hospitals even further down the funding chain,” Barrett said. “If that is the case, it is clearly not acceptable – and I expect there will be many who will in fighting for fairness for local health care.”
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For more information, please contact MPP Toby Barrett at
(519) 428-0446 or (905)-765-8413, 1-800-903-8629