The BC Care Providers Association (BCCPA) is calling on the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) to confirm and release plans to reallocate new revenue they have received from seniors in residential care to improve staffing levels and quality of care.
The provincial government announced plans to increase client user fees for seniors in residential care in October 2009. This new fee structure has been implemented in two phases since then - with the second phase of increases being applied to seniors by the provincial government earlier this year.
"When the policy was announced, the provincial government promised to return new revenues from the fee increase to care providers for increased staffing levels in seniors care," said BCCPA CEO Ed Helfrich. "While most health regions in British Columbia have confirmed plans to reallocate these funds, we are still waiting for clear answers from VIHA regarding where exactly these millions of new dollars will go in the future."
BCCPA is also calling on VIHA to make their plan to reallocate these funds public. At their 34th Annual Conference and General Meeting last week in Whistler, BCCPA members unanimously approved a policy resolution requesting the government and health authorities to release a full detailed analysis by the end of this summer of how the new client user fee revenue has been reallocated to individual facilities and health authority operated facilities in each health region to improve staffing levels.
At the Conference - attended by close to 250 care providers, health care leaders and exhibitors - facility operators said they are under increasing pressure from seniors and families to demonstrate how new provincial fees are improving care standards. They also expressed concern that some health authorities are holding back traditional funding lifts for residential care in favour of new user fee revenue.
Following many requests to discuss plans for reallocation of funding on Vancouver Island, BCCPA wrote to the VIHA in December 2010. VIHA's response in January 2011 did not identify and detailed plans for the new revenue - despite the fact the policy was introduced over 18 months ago. Since then, VIHA as invited care providers to submit patient safety proposals to access funds on a one-time basis and capped at a contribution of $600/bed.
BCCPA President Mary MacDougall welcomed this progress from VIHA but said more needs to be done. "The provincial increase in client user fees is not a one-time measure. While these capped safety funds are welcomed, Island care providers need confirmation of a longer-term plan to reallocate these funds on an ongoing basis. We also need full disclosure of how much new revenue has been collected from seniors and how it has been reallocated to improve residential care."
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