Patient Focused Funding Officially Launched

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C. - The Province has officially announced it   is moving towards Patient Focused Funding. As was  reported  earlier today on Opinion 250, the shift will be away from block funding, which is not attached to specific targets or priorities to a patient-focused funding approach where hospitals receive financial incentives for delivering acute-care services for a competitive, set price.

Minister of Health, Kevin Falcon says pilot projects have shown  the new system  provided better management of resources and dollars by hospitals and health authorities - and most importantly, more timely quality care for patients. For example, shorter wait times for breast cancer diagnosis and spinal surgery, increased hip- and knee-replacement surgeries and being seen faster in emergency departments to aid decongestion. The ministry is taking patient-focused funding and incorporating it for all health authorities.

Over the next two years, the Province will invest an additional $250 million to implement province-wide patient-focused funding,  $80 million in 2010-11  and $170 million in 2011-12. Patient focused funding will be gradually expanded, and by 2012-13 around 20 per cent of eligible acute-care spending will be funded through this approach.

The ministry has registered the BC Health Services Purchasing Organization to oversee the implementation of patient-focused funding. The organization builds on the successes of the $75-million Lower Mainland Innovation and Integration Fund.

The objectives for the end of the first year include:
* Expand emergency department patient-focused funding in hospitals.
* Reduce wait times in selected common surgical procedures.
* Increase same-day surgical procedures by reducing overnight stays.

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