Funding Will Provide Financial Relief from COVID-19 Costs and Support Patient Care in Niagara.
The Ontario government is providing $5,006,981.00 to Niagara Health as part of its $572.3 million investment to reimburse hospitals across the province for their lost revenue during the pandemic in order to provide financial stability and support continued high-quality patient care people need and deserve.
“As a local MPP, access to high-quality health care has been one of my top priorities,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West.
“Niagara Health has been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic, and our government is committed to supporting hospitals through this challenging time. This investment is a key part of our government’s plan to end hallway healthcare, cut hospital wait times and build a better, more connected health care system that puts patients and their families first.”
“Thank you to the Government of Ontario for recognizing the need to address Niagara Health’s financial pressures caused by the pandemic,” said Lynn Guerriero, President and CEO of Niagara Health.
“Our dedicated team has stepped up to provide testing, open assessment and vaccination centres, and care for COVID patients throughout this crisis. This funding will ensure Niagara Health can continue to provide high-quality and safe services to all residents of the region.”
This funding is part of the province’s overall investment of over $1.2 billion to help hospitals recover from financial pressures created and worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals have felt financial challenges not only through direct costs, but also through the loss of other forms of revenue such as co-payments for private rooms and the reduction of retail services, all of which contribute to patient care and support clinical services. To ensure Ontario’s hospitals remain on stable financial footing, the government allocated $572.3 million to hospitals across Ontario to help address these fiscal challenges and reimburse qualifying portions of these losses.
“Ontario’s hospitals have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and our government is using every tool at our disposal to ensure that they are supported,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.
“This funding will help ease the financial pressure on hospitals so that they can continue to provide high-quality care and ensure our health care system is prepared to respond to any scenario.”
Since the start of pandemic, Ontario has worked with its hospital partners to build unprecedented capacity and ensure that Ontarians have access to care. This includes $5.1 billion to add 3,100 beds across the province for a total of approximately 17,000 medical and surgical beds. Through additional investments, the province now has a total of 2,436 adult and paediatric ICU beds. The government remains committed to supporting hospitals so that they can continue to care for Ontarians today and in the future.
Additional Resources
- Ontario Supporting Hospitals with Additional Funding During COVID-19
- Improving Health Care in Ontario
- Hallway Health Care: A System Under Strain
- Visit Ontario's COVID-19 vaccine web page to view the latest provincial data and information on COVID-19 vaccines
- Visit Ontario’s COVID-19 information website to learn more about how the province continues to protect the people of Ontario from the virus
