More flexibility in shifting health care dollars to different sectors could help early patient discharges.
Erie St. Clair LHIN Board Chair Martin Girash says the province sometimes allows money that had been earmarked for one service, to be used in another.
"There are budget lines for various types of programs and that was for accountability purposes and worked very well. They are finding now that sometimes those accountability lines make an organization less flexible," he says. "Where a patient is in hospital and goes home, for a short period of time where they need (home care) before we can get the full community effort in place, the funding can flow from the hospital to the community."
He says short-term flexibility could help patients go home sooner and save money over the entire care system.
