By Carli Whitwell
Scaled-down outpatient rehabilitation will start at Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare hospitals beginning this spring.
MAHC interim chief executive office Barry Monaghan said outpatient rehab at all three MAHC sites will only be available to discharged MAHC surgical patients, trauma patients and patients returning from orthopedic surgery at another hospital.
Other referrals and forms of rehab will not be offered.
Originally, MAHC had planned to shut down all outpatient rehab to help reduce its projected $5.8-million debt by the end of the fiscal year.
Public outcry prevented that.
“We’ve listened very carefully to our internal and external consultations,” said Monaghan. “We recognize that it’s very important we have those services in place at those locations.”
The scaled-back rehab services, which the health care organization is not obligated to provide, were included in Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare’s final deficit recovery plan, submitted to the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network on Friday.
If it follows the recommendations in the 60-plus-page report, MAHC could save $5.3 million in budget costs after 2012. The health care organization has to invest a total of almost $2.8 million in capital and employee severances to achieve these savings.
Already MAHC has closed seven beds and plans to shut down a total of 23. The urgent care centre in Burk’s Falls is also closed, among other changes.
The loss of a total 55 full-time equivalent positions by 2012 could start this month. This could include 13 full-time positions this fiscal year.
MAHC is expected to meet with the LHIN very soon to review its plan, but does not need approval for everything.
Some of the savings are contingent on reducing the number of alternative level of care (ALC) patients. ALC patients are those who no longer require acute care from the hospital, but cannot access proper care for their conditions from home and as such have to stay in hospital acute care beds.
If MAHC can reduce the number of its ALC patients, it can close more beds, which means it can staff fewer people.
But according to Monaghan, that could require external help. For example, asking the LHIN to provide funding to the North Simcoe Muskoka Community Care Access Centre to increase access to care on weekends.
Such funding help last year managed to reduce ALC numbers at MAHC, and, according to the audit, could save the health care organization another $1 million.
Deficit plan
Other highlights of the submitted deficit recovery plan include:
• Consolidating ophthalmologic surgeries at a single hospital site.
• Staggered nursing shifts in the operating and recovery rooms and reducing nurse coordinator hours.
• Closing cafeterias by the end of spring.
• Consolidating switchboards for all hospital sites.
• MAHC wants to work with the Cottage Country Family Health Team to provide diagnostic service, and by the end of March stop subsidizing the Gravenhurst Diagnostic Clinic, which is losing money.
• MAHC is also investigating the outsourcing of the CEO and other management positions. That should be known by March. In the meantime, Monaghan’s contract has been extended until the summer.
A copy of MAHC’s deficit recovery plan is available on its website at www.mahc.ca.