Health care has become a pretty big business in southeast Saskatchewan, albeit, using taxpayer dollars to fund most of the action. It's still big business on all other levels.
With a payroll that includes 2,400 full-time, part time and casual employees who are paid in excess of $80 million within an annual budget that is north of $141 million, and 28 facilities scattered around 34,000 square kilometres in southeast Saskatchewan, the Sun Country Health Region means big business.
The budget that has nearly doubled in the 10 years that provincial health regions have been in existence means Sun Country's revenues, expenses and programming needs translate into dozens of well-compensated administrative positions and significant wages for hundreds of upper and middle-management wage earners.
This year's annual report from Sun Country notes that 81 employees received paycheques in excess of $100,000 over the past year and several dozen more who nearly broke through that six-figure barrier.
The report, which carries demographic and programming statistical information (see related article in this week's edition) also contains the local health region's financial breakdowns in the spirit of transparency.
A surplus of just over $1.1 million, representing less than one per cent of actual revenue constituted the bottom financial accounting line for the region in the past fiscal year of 2012-13. The Ministry of Health provided an additional $2.584 million above budget for for the $141.4 million operation.
The additional funds were earmarked for joint job evaluation ($606,000), negotiated increases in nursing wages ($492,000) and out-of-scope salary increases of $500,000.
Monetary recoveries are usually above budget, the region's administration said, due to compensation recoveries, bursary recoveries of $85,000 and insurance recoveries around $270,000.
Salaries were over budget by nearly $1.3 million in the last fiscal year, mainly due to the nursing wage settlement and retroactive salary payments. Some of the increases were offset by staffing position that were left vacant during the year.
St. Joseph's Hospital in Estevan, which is an affiliated facility in Sun Country was provided with just under $17 million in the 2012-13 budget, which compared with $17.68 million it received from the region in 2011-12, a decrease of nearly $700,000.
When the topic of senior management wages is broached, the results are similar in scope since compensation packages have risen over the 10-year period in concert with the budget.
When Sun Country submitted its first two annual reports in 2002-03 and 2003-04, it was noted that the chief executive officer (CE)), Lee Spencer, earned $129,348. Today's CEO, Marga Cugnet, was provided a pay package by the board of directors that now exceeds $325,000 in annual salary, a significant increase over her total compensation of just under $238,000 last year while she was still serving as interim CEO.
Other senior managers, the vice-presidents of various departments, earned in the neighbourhood of $173,000 to $176,000, an increase of approximately $10,000 to $12,000 over the previous year, While Dr. Alain Lenferna, vice-president of medical services, was paid just under $291,000.
But these administrators were not the most lucratively compensated employees for Sun Country. The supplier and employee pay lists provided information that suggests medical and health care specialists Dr. G.B. Suberu ($505,000) and Dr. Omoniyi Oyebode, with payment of nearly $540,000 were among the highest paid suppliers of personal services to Sun Country, along with Dr. Shauna Hudson who is the region's chief medical officer with a listed pay scale of just over $274,000.
On the supplier list, it's noted that Regina-based law firm of MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman were given just under $141,000 for legal services in the past year.
When it came to governance, the remuneration for the appointed board members was much more modest both in 20023-03 as well as in 2012-13.
In the first year of regional operations, the board chairman Earl Kickley, earned a retainer and per diem amount of $29,235 while 10 years later, current chairwoman Marilyn Charlton received a total of $30,708. Sharon Bauche, chairwoman in 2011-12 received a total retainer, per diem and travel expense compensation package of $44,758.
The two Estevan representatives appointed to the board of directors by the Minister of Health, Lori Carr and Gary St. Onge received $13,493 and $10,362 respectively for their board and committee commitments in the past year.
