Province vows cuts won’t hurt home care
Tory plan aims to save system $1.6M by March
The province’s health authority is cutting homecare services for some of its 100,000-plus clients and creating waiting lists for others as it struggles to contain spending amid skyrocketing demand. While Alberta Health Services has trumpeted its efforts to help ailing seniors remain in the community as a cost-effective solution to the gridlock in nursing homes and ERs, officials said Tuesday the reductions in Calgary and Edmonton are necessary because the growth in home-care expenditures has outstripped the $488-million annual budget.
“The changes being undertaken will be made on a case-by-case basis,” AHS spokesman Don Stewart said in a emailed statement. “Patient care will not be compromised.”
A leaked AHS document obtained by the New Democrat opposition show that in Edmonton alone 25 per cent of existing clients face a cut in the length of their visits from healthcare aides or nurses as part of a plan to save $1.6 million by March 31.
The document tells case managers they will be given a script to use when speaking to clients and their families about the shortened visits, but it also indicates a conversation may not be necessary in all cases.
“If you believe the change can be introduced without alarming the client, no communication is required on your part,” the document said.
Funding for a self-managed program where clients purchase their own care after being assessed is being capped at $4,500 per month. Those not already in the program will be placed on a waiting list.
“To fight a deficit on the backs of the most vulnerable in our society is unacceptable,” NDP leader Brian Mason said.
“To cut the one thing that’s saving money in the health-care system is absurd.”
AHS increased this year’s allotment for home care by 11 per cent in an attempt to keep pace with rising demand.
But financial reports from midway through the fiscal year indicate the authority was on pace to overspend that amount by $14 million.
Liberal health critic Dr. David Swann said the authority would be wiser to find savings from the salaries and severance agreements it allots to its bloated bureaucracy.
“If we don’t increase our investment upstream, these people will end up downstream in expensive emergency room and hospital beds,” Swann said. “This is a step in the wrong direction.”
Home-care providers in Calgary have been asked to search for savings, but they say they haven’t been given any specific targets yet. “The detailed discussions here haven’t really started,” said Sue Mellon, chief executive with Calgary Family Services.
“AHS is wanting to make sure all the hours of care for each client are actually needed, but I am unaware of any direction that we’ve got to shave or reduce service across the board.”
Stewart did not reply to questions about whether the cuts in Calgary will parallel those being made in Edmonton. “Work is now underway to finalize how to proceed with aligning available resources to vendor services while staying within budget in a manner which has the least impact on client quality of care,” he said.
Mellon said her agency, which serves clients in downtown Calgary, the far northwest of the city and Strathmore, has seen a 50 per cent increase in its contracted hours from AHS over the past four years.
“More and more clients require care, and the needs of some are becoming more intense,” she said.
“I guess the system is re-evaluating how are we going to meet this need.”
Health Minister Fred Horne was unavailable for comment.