APH awaits `catch-up' dollars from province

Cash flow payments yet to be updated to reflect new funding model, report says

Provincial funding has yet to catch up to the most recent Ontario public health money model.

Algoma Public Health's fiscal statements - as of February - show revenues at a five-per-cent negative variance to budget for 2024.

For the 2024 calendar year, the Ministry of Health instructed public health units to plan for provincial base funding to be restored to levels provided under the 2020 cost-share formula, as well as base funding growth of one per cent.

These anticipated changes are reflected in the Board of Health approved 2024 budget, but cash flow payments from the ministry have not been updated, , APH's recent Board of Health meeting heard.

APH anticipates a “catch-up” payment related to these funding changes in the spring.

Earlier, APH announced six layoffs - three ONA members, one CUPE member and two managers - as the agency dealt with its $17.2-million 2024 budget. Passed in November, the budget marked a decrease of $205,194 under 2023 anticipated funding.

At a 1.2-per-cent decrease, the budget was considered the “minimum,” APH said, required to sustain the delivery of core public health programs. This included services in health protection and promotion based on “prioritized community needs” in Algoma and “routinize” COVID-19 response and immunization into core infectious disease and immunization programming, as mandated by the Ontario Public Health Standards and required to support “health for all.”

APH's governing body agreed unanimously in late February that it did not “intend” to merge with Public Health Sudbury and Districts, nor would it further negotiate with PHSD to complete a voluntary merger business case for submission to the Ministry of Health.

Talks of a merger date back to 2019. At that time, the Ontario government attempted to force the merger of all Northeastern Ontario health units into a single entity. It was part of a larger plan to merge 35 public health units into 10 regional structures, which was abandoned with the onset of the

COVID -19 pandemic.

The Board of Health also heard that based on communications with the province “to date,” there will be no availability of COVID -19 “extraordinary” funds or mitigation dollars in 2024. One-time funding requests to address financial pressures above and beyond what can be supported by the cost-shared budget were also not made available through the 2024 annual service plan, due to the province last month. The province has said opportunities may become available based on ongoing assessments.

For the fiscal year ending March 2024, $993,000 has been approved, which includes continuation of the COVID School Focused Nurse program that expired in June 2023, and $61,000 of one -time funding related to upgrading of “essential”

IT network switches, carried over from fiscal 2022-23, as approved by the ministry in March 2023. Other services for which one-time funding has been provided include the needle syringe program, new purpose-built vaccine fridge, PHI practicum and capital security system upgrades.

This amount also includes continued IPAC Hub funding, for which APH received formal approval of $603,000 for the 202324 fiscal year to support enhancement of infection prevention and control practices in congregate care settings within Algoma's catchment area.

In March, the ministry confirmed that IPAC Hub funding will continue in the 2024-25 fiscal year and subsequent years, with planning meetings with individual hubs slated for the new fiscal year.