The Sunrise Regional Health Authority recently approved what is planned as a balanced operating budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
The budget consists of revenues totalling $221,180,657, with operating expenditures of $219,118,250, with $2,062,407 held for replacement reserves and repayment of mortgages and loans.
In terms of expenses Lorelei Stusek, VP of Corporate Services with the with Sunrise told the regular monthly meeting of the Board costs have been trimmed over the years.
“The cost curve has been trending down in general,” she said.
However, Stusek said there are pressures on that curve, including the fact there has been no new dollars from the province to offset the impact of inflation for the last three years.
The biggest cost within the region remains wages, with sick time and overtime pushing those costs higher.
Stusek said it was important to understand “how it impacts our bottom line,” adding that is why attendance targets are important to the Region’s bottom line.
Compensation costs continue to be the largest expenditure for the health region and account for 77 per cent of total costs.
In 2014-15, wage driven premium costs in the region were more than $3.35 million dollars. Wage driven premiums apply when employees are called in to work at times when higher rates of pay apply; such as, during consecutive weekends worked, for after hour call backs, and when staff are working more than normal full time hours.
“The health and productivity of our workplace will continue to be essential to a balanced budget in 2015-16. Good health, healthy work-life balance and zero injuries is what we want for our employees,” said Sunrise Regional Health Authority Chairperson, Lawrence Chomos in a release. “We also need to ensure fiscal responsibility and sustainability.”
The region also has limited revenue sources, relying heavily on money which flows from the province.
Of the health region’s total operating revenue 89 per cent is provincially funded. The health region received a net provincial funding increase of $9.44 million. Out of this amount $7.74 million is to cover compensation increases for previously negotiated collective agreements, and compensation funding to be distributed to community based organizations.
Other revenue sources include; reciprocal billing fees for clients from other provinces and countries, third party charges, long term care, miscellaneous recoveries and parking.
A new idea that is factored into the 2015-16 budget is the sale of advertising space on the fleet of leased vehicles used by health region employees during their workday. This idea is budgeted to generate $223,000 in revenue.
Plans to reduce expenditures in 2015-16 include review of organizational structures as vacancies occur, vacancy management, setting aggressive attendance management targets and reduction of call backs, no allocation for inflationary costs, and a less expensive process for regional on-boarding of newly hired employees.
“In order to keep costs down, we continue to tighten our belts with carefully managed spending and have become increasingly creative,” said Chomos. “Each year the challenge is greater, as our options become fewer.”
Built into the budget is funding for work that was started last year to improve safety, quality and access for the people served by the health region.
The network of Telehealth sites in the region will be expanded. Work will continue on co-location of the Canora primary health care team and the Canora Collaborative Emergency Centre. The Sunrise Health and Wellness Centre will be further developed as a regional support for primary health care and chronic disease management.
The electronic medical record implementation will be completed to benefit clients accessing primary health care sites in Yorkton, Foam Lake, Canora, Preeceville, Langenburg, and Norquay.
Included in the budget is support for the computerized maintenance management system, and support for on the job orientation for new employees.
The Sunrise Regional Health Authority approved the 2015-16 operating budget at their regular monthly meeting on May 27.
