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Group Health Centre finishes the year in a surplus

The Sault Ste. Marie Group Health Centre has balanced its budget for the second consecutive year, and, in fact, reported a surplus of $4,342,020 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.

The Sault Ste. Marie Group Health Centre has balanced its budget for the second consecutive year, and, in fact, reported a surplus of $4,342,020 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.

GHC’s total revenue for 2013, as reported to Canada Revenue Agency, was $27,974,702. Of that total, $20,924,746 came from the Province, or 75 per cent.

Other key sources of revenue included $2,276,447 in charitable gifts, and $3,838,276 from the sale of goods and services.

GHC’s total expenditure for 2013 was $23,632,682. Of that total, $17,704,027 went to employee compensation, about 75 percent.

As a registered Canadian charity, GHC is required to make its annual fiscal report public, but its employees do not fall under Ontario’s so called “sunshine law”.

Nevertheless there is a general breakdown of employee compensation included in the recent fiscal report.

During 2013, GHC reported 127 full-time employees, including managerial staff, at the health care centre.

The total expenditure to them was $7,704,678. 

Of the top ten full-time positions, four received compensation between $80,000 and $119,999; five received compensation between $120,000 and $159,999; and one received compensation between $160,000 and $199,999.

During 2013, GHC compensated 197 part-time or seasonal employees, with a total expenditure of $9,999,349.

Grant Walsh, GHC president and CEO, told Soo Today that the 81 physicians who practice through the centre, work with the GHC and the Algoma District Medical Group, who represent their interests, to negotiate their funding arrangement with the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

Walsh said the physicians who belong to the GHC do not have to worry about the allocation of office space, the administration of their offices, or anything financially related to that.

Meanwhile David Orazietti, Sault MPP and Minister of Natural Resources, said Dec. 6 that the substantial investment by the Province in the GHC represented his government’s commitment to improve the entire health care sector in Ontario. 

He said that has included increased funding to physician and nurse practitioner clinics; improved salaries for physicians; the creation of family health teams; and new medical schools, such as Northern Ontario School of Medicine, to increase the number of doctors.

He said a key objective of his government continues to be to ensure that patients are getting access to needed health care in a timely way.

In 2012, the Ministry of Health negotiated a five-year $38 million agreement with the GHC for base funding to the centre.

That arrangement also required the GHC to adopt a new governance model that saw one board of directors assume the responsibility and accountability for the financial operation of the GHC. The eight member board is composed of four

physicians from the Algoma District Medical Group, and four community members from the Group Health Association. The four physicians on the board are: Dr. Brian Mitchell (acting chair); Dr. Chris Bruni; Dr. David Fera; and Dr. Kirk Zufelt.

The four community members are: Tom Bonell; Harvey Briggs; Bud Wildman; and Don Pezzutto. 

Board member, Tom Bonell, said last week that although the Ministry of Health wanted the financial and decision-making power to be amalgamated into one GHC board, he said the ministry was not setting the agenda.

“The Ministry doesn’t dictate what we do. Those decisions are made by the Board,” he stressed. “Balancing the budget was key to the Ministry, and to the taxpayer as well. We did that in a very quick time, and we are very happy about that.”

Bonell attributed recent improvements and successes at the GHC to the fact that doctors and community representatives are bringing their perspectives in a transparent way to the same table, and decisions are being made together.

Walsh agreed that the new Board has proven to be an effective way to apply good business principles to run the organization.

He said there has been no pressure or interference “from anyone else” in the Board’s decision-making process.

Meanwhile Melinda Genys, interim president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 894, who represent 221 employees at GHC, acknowledged that their members have no representative on the Board of Directors. 

“We certainly hope the Board is balanced in making informed decisions that are going to benefit the patients,” she said.

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