Chatham-Kent’s hospital remains on track to balance its budget by next year as it continues to find cost savings and efficiencies.
Officials with the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance said on Monday that the hospital is now forecasted to end the current fiscal year with a $3.8 million deficit, which is around $400,000 less than initially anticipated. Hospital administration added that they are still projecting a balanced budget for the 2027-2028 fiscal year.
CKHA President and CEO Adam Topp said the hospital has made significant progress towards reducing the operating deficit over the last two years.
“Our expectation is that we’re going to do better… So far, we are,” said Topp. “We are making strides in other areas of managing more efficiently.”
Topp said the hospital is now saving around $100,000 annually after changing its materials management warehouse following a request for proposals process. He added that they found another $20,000 in monthly savings through new measures related to specialty bed surfaces that address patient pressure ulcers.
“We implemented a process where we try to make sure the patients get the right surface that they need given their pressure ulcer risk. [Because of] the resulting improvements in that area, we’ve actually saved some money,” he said.
CKHA also announced earlier this year that it would be eliminating 32 full-time and 17 part-time positions from the hospital as part of a multi-year financial recovery plan.
Topp said the process was accomplished over several months through cutting vacant positions and attrition. No CKHA employees were laid off as a result of the cuts.
“Nobody was asked to leave who didn’t take early retirement,” said Topp. “We worked very, very hard to make sure we found a place for everybody who was affected by those changes.”
