September 7, 2007

TORONTO - The McGuinty government is ensuring that local communities get a fair share of health care funding by developing the Health-Based Allocation Model (HBAM) to allocate funding to the province’s 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman announced today.

“Our government is looking to the future so that our health care system can continue to provide the services that communities and patients need,” said Smitherman. “This new formula is a made-in-Ontario model that’s unique, fair and sustainable.”

The Health-Based-Allocation-Model, under development since early 2006, takes into account the health status of patients in local communities. The ministry and LHINs will be able to analyze and interpret data so that areas of the system with the greatest needs get the greatest share of funding.

This new funding model is expected to :

• Promote equal access to services across Ontario
• Ensure funding is responsive to health needs of the patients treated
• Promote integration by recognizing opportunities to coordinate services across geography, providers and patient types
• Promote an equitable share of funding within available resources
• Promote fairness by accounting for differences in health and need for service.

“The Health-Based-Allocation-Model is a significant step in the right direction towards addressing many of the funding inequities that currently exist in the health care system,” said Tariq Asmi, Executive Director, GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance. “I look forward to working with the government to further develop this model so that hospitals in high growth areas can continue to provide health care services.”

In the future, each Local Health Integration Network’s share of funding will be based on direct measures of health status and on population-based factors such as age, gender, socio-economic status, rural geography and patient flows. The ministry is consulting with the health care sector on the Health-Based-Allocation-Model to inform the Local Health Integration Networks and to seek their advice on its implementation.

This is just one more example of how, working together, Ontarians have achieved results in health care services. Other initiatives include :

• Investing $700 million in the Aging at Home Strategy that will transform community health care services so that seniors can live healthy, independent lives in their own homes
• Investing $5 billion in modernizing and expanding health care facilities by 2010 to meet the needs of the province’s growing and aging population
• Reducing wait times for five key health care services (hip and knee joint replacement, cataract surgeries, MRI exams, cancer surgeries and cardiac procedures)

Today’s initiative is part of the McGuinty government’s plan for innovation in public health care, building a system that delivers on three priorities – keeping Ontarians healthy, reducing wait times and providing better access to doctors and nurses.

For further information :

Members of the general public :
416-327-4327, or 1-866-532-3161

BACKGROUNDERS

Health-Based Allocation Model

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