Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare and Trillium Health Centre are expected to sign a preliminary memorandum of understanding on Aug. 5 regarding the outsourcing of management services.
The two groups are still negotiating the terms of the agreement that would see hospital management services outsourced to Trillium, a Mississauga-based healthcare provider, said Sven Miglin, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare board chair.
Because Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare is without a chief financial officer or a financial manager, financial management service responsibilities were allocated on an interim basis to Prism Partners Inc., said Miglin.
For a more permanent solution, he said the health-care organization had to choose between developing their own management system from the ground up, or entering into an agreement with another health-care provider with an established system.
After developing a request for proposals that outlined a need for financial, human resources and, potentially, materials management services, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare sent 16 expressions of interest to potential service providers, said Miglin. After meeting with seven respondents, Trillium was chosen as the most desirable candidate.
“They have the platforms and the systems, they have the system software, accounting systems, payroll systems, human resource systems and they have them established,” he said. “We can tap into them and use them for a usage fee, rather than have to purchase them, develop them and implement them all on our own, which would take tremendous resources.
“This is just a more efficient way of doing it.”
Although nothing has been finalized, Miglin said Trillium would be responsible for, among other things, managing payroll and accounts payable, issuing cheques and establishing human resources polices.
Future responsibilities could include materials management, which would allow Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare to benefit from Trillium’s purchasing power, though that part is only a possibility, said Miglin.
Final approval for the deal isn’t expected to take place until a November or December board meeting.
Implementation timelines and costing will be developed during the draft stage, which won’t begin until the memorandum of agreement is signed.
“We wanted to establish a relationship with a large hospital,” said Miglin. “Because they have more resources, they’ve been able to develop a better system. Our accounting system needed to be upgraded, so it would have taken considerable resources to have done that on our own. Why not tap into somebody who’s already doing it well?”
But Miglin stressed the agreement would not see Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare become a department of Trillium Health Centre.
“We will be a standalone organization. It will be our own accounting system, it will be our own bank account, it will be our own payroll system. They will just manage and deliver it to us,” he said. “We are not being taken over by them at all. They are simply providing services to us in a more cost-effective manner.
“We’ll get a much higher level of service than we could possibly get on our own because of their resources.”
Miglin also said his group looked at the long-term benefits of working with Trillium, one of which included observing Trillium’s departments, such as diagnostic imaging, and learning more advanced, or better, practices.
The changes won’t necessarily cost more money, either, said Miglin.
If Trillium takes over managerial responsibilities, Prism Partners Inc. will no longer be necessary. Empty administrative positions, such as interim chief executive officer Barry Monaghan’s and the finance officer and manager positions, will also leave funds available for Trillium’s services in the near future.
“It would be wrong … to give the impression that this will solve all our financial issues,” said Miglin. “We think it’s a more effective way to use resources we already have and get a better service and a better management of our hospital than having to do it on our own.”
But nothing is finalized yet.
“It’s a process that will continue. Hopefully it will end in fruition. It could still not happen,” he said. “But certainly you wouldn’t expect them (Trillium) to spend all kinds of time and effort coming up with all kinds of proposals if they weren’t interested.”