May 17, 2005

Hon. George Smitherman

Minister of Health and Long-Term Care

Hepburn Block, 10^th Floor

80 Grosvenor Street

Toronto, ON M7A 2C4

Dear Minister Smitherman:

As hospitals providing care to a quarter of Ontario residents, we are working to ensure that GTA/905 residents are able to access cost-effective hospital care in their local hospitals.

Having recently been briefed on the mechanics of the proposed “new hospital funding formula”, we are concerned that the current direction of the proposed funding formula will not truly address pressures faced by hospitals providing care in Ontario’s fastest growing communities. As a result, the gap in funding for GTA/905 residents’ hospital care will continue to grow, you will not be able to take advantage of lower cost providers of hospital care, and most importantly, GTA/905 residents may not have access to hospital care in their own community hospitals. In addition, a lack of equitable funding on a regional basis will create challenges for Local Health Integrated Networks (LHINs), especially high growth LHINs, in carrying out their mandates.

Our key concern regarding the proposed hospital funding formula is that it is not truly population-based and will ignore the needs of residents in high growth communities. While stability of the hospital system is a goal we all share, stability should not ignore the very real pressures faced by hospitals providing care in the few high growth regions of the province. The proposed new funding formula will add any new provincial funding that is intended to target population growth pressures to the overall hospital pool of funding. By doing this, these resources targeted to high growth regions will instead be thinly spread out across the system so that very real patient needs and financial pressures experienced in high growth regions like the GTA/905 are virtually ignored. This perpetuates the historic funding inequity.

Inequitable funding for hospitals on a population-based basis as well as a lack of adequate hospital infrastructure in the GTA/905, we believe, result from the lack of an overall and longer term Ministry strategy and policy for meeting health care needs in high growth communities, not just for hospital care, but also for home care, community mental health care and indeed for health care in general.

We the undersigned Chairs and CEOs of hospitals providing care in Ontario’s GTA/905 Region recommend:

1. That the MOHLTC create a pool of funding targeted to hospitals in high growth regions across Ontario in 2005/06 and that this pool of funding be allocated to hospitals in high growth regions with specific performance expectations so that local hospitals can meet the demands placed on them due to high and sustained population growth.

2. That the MOHLTC review its approach to capital funding in 2005/06 such that investments in hospital infrastructure are targeted to communities consistent with the “Places to Grow” strategy.

3. That the MOHLTC start now to develop a strategy and policies for growth, consistent with the government’s growth agenda and that support the provision of health care services in high growth communities.

We would appreciate meeting with you to see how we can work together to improve the way health care funding is distributed across Ontario, to bring health care close to home for GTA/905 residents and to develop a longer term strategy for responding to the health care needs of the high growth regions of Ontario.