CKHA faced with a $2M deficit

The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) is faced with an uphill battle to balance their books.

Ken Deane, the interim CEO with the CKHA, said they are looking at a “ball park” $2 million deficit this year.

“There is no question and it will come as no surprise that we have a deficit and deficits in and of themselves create significant challenges for hospitals,” Deane said, during a special meeting on Wednesday with the media.

“We need an on-going program to replenish equipment. There are only two sources of money for that. One is through the Foundation (of the CKHA) and the other is by generating a surplus each year. When you are running a deficit, obviously you don’t have money to buy equipment. We need to make sure that we have on-going mechanisms to identify, prioritize and re-invest in our organization as it relates to ensuring that we have equipment in place.”

Deane said the final deficit number may swing a bit between now and year-end, but it is a marker they’re projecting.

“So we need to have a mechanism in place for the next fiscal year to make sure that we address that,” he said.

“So our financial planning now will focus on what we need to do next year in the budget to make sure that we achieve a balanced budget. So we are bench-marking our performance against other hospitals to identify where there are opportunities to do things differently, better and more economically. That’s the process that we’re going in.”

Deane said himself, staff and the provincially-appointed supervisor for the CKHA Rob Devitt are working on fixing this shortfall.

“Underscoring that will be a process of ensuring that we have as much inclusivity of people within the organization to ensure that we have as many ideas as possible of how we can operate more efficiently and effectively,” Deane said.

Both Deane and Devitt held the special meting in Chatham this week to update the community about the work they have completed in the 60-plus days they have been on the job.

Watch for more coverage from the meeting on the Sydenham Current.