Deputy minister tasked with reviewing N.W.T.'s health-care spending says it's not about cuts
Review expected to be complete by the end of government's term
The deputy minister leading the N.W.T. government's efforts to review health spending says his team is not focused on cutting services.
Terence Courtoreille is the associate deputy minister of the new nine-person Health Care System Sustainability unit tasked with reining in health-care spending in the territory.
Courtoreille said as part of their work, they plan to look at programs and services that were funded by federal contribution agreements that no longer exist, but where the programs are still delivered.
'If there are areas that are chronically underfunded, we want to look at those cost drivers to see what's going on," Courtoreille said.
When asked if the review will look into cutting services, Courtoreille said, "it's not about that."
"We really want to have a look at what are we doing, why are we doing it, see if there's a business case for us to do it more efficiently going forward," he said.
Courtoreille said the team will also be looking closely at medical travel costs.
"We're hearing anecdotally that perhaps some of the medical travel that's going on isn't required or it isn't necessary," he said.
The review will also look at what services are being delivered outside of the territory.
"Maybe it's not about just moving the people to the service, maybe there's a business case for moving the service to the people," Courtoreille said.
He said he and his team will look at options and "the full suite of services," like virtual care.
"The growth in health care has exceeded our level of affordability," he said.
'Nothing is a done deal yet'
N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson said the territory's health-care system has been "overwhelmed" since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government will put $2 million toward the new unit in its first year.
Simpson said the review needs to be done to see where services are being used.
"We need to understand what all the services are in the territory, what they're costing us and how much value we're getting from them. From there, we'll make a determination about whether all those services are necessary," he said.
Simpson previously compared health-care services in the territory to the "Cadillac of services."
"I think for the price of a Cadillac, maybe you could buy two or three Ford Focuses," he said.
"If we spend money like we don't have an endless bank account, we'll be able to provide more services."
Simpson did not rule out services being cut, but said it won't happen overnight.
"That's a possibility," he said. "People aren't going to wake up one day and services will be gone … Nothing is a done deal yet."
Right now, the government does not plan to do similar reviews of other departments.
"Health care is a third of our entire budget … and we have a massive deficit," Simpson said. "There's no other department that's in the same situation."
The total health and social services deficit at the end of last year was $265 million. Another $93-million shortfall is expected this year.
Courtoreille said his unit has hired three staff so far and have meetings scheduled with regional advisory councils.
They are looking to finish the review by the end of this government's term, and provide regular updates to MLAs and the premier.
A monitoring and evaluation framework for the review will also be put in place, Courtoreille said.
With files from Hilary Bird