The clock continues to count down on Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) and the after-hours Urgent Care Clinic it operates at the Burk’s Falls and District Health Centre.

Administrators at the hospital board that also operates the hospitals in Bracebridge and Huntsville are facing a deadline of March 31, less than a week away, to solve a $1.5-million deficit.

CEO Barry Lockhart said he was waiting for Tuesday’s budget speech before predicting whether or not he will have to make cuts to service to balance this year’s budget.

But early indications that extra money would be flowing to the province’s hospitals are not good.

In reports published by Canadian Press on Thursday, March 14, health minister George Smitherman was quoted as saying hospital administration efficiencies should address the deficits being predicted at 75 of the province’s 154 public hospitals.

“What is a cut?” said Smith­erman. “If a hospital alters its administration and some people are exited from that environment is that a cut? No, I don’t think so.”

Lockhart said MAHC has already made extensive changes to its administration since the boards of Bracebridge and Huntsville hospitals were amalgamated.

“In 2005 we went through that process of finding efficiencies and eliminating duplication to let us keep more dollars at the bedside,” said Lockhart. He added that about $600,000 has already been eliminated from MAHC’s annual budget for administration.

Lockhart also stressed that administration cuts cannot defeat the deficit.

“Even if you eliminated the vast majority of our administration costs it still would not address our deficit situation,” said Lockhart.

The CEO said MAHC continues to negotiate with the North Simcoe Local Health Integration Network to address the deficit that is illegal under Ontario law.

Even though the deadline is looming for clearing the balance sheet of red ink, Lockhart said he has not started a process to make cuts to service.

“We don’t have a list of specific services sitting in a drawer somewhere that we can pull out and say this is what we cut if we want to reduce the budget by $500,000 and this is the list of stuff we cut to reach $1 million. That’s not the approach we’re taking,” said Lockhart.

Should the MAHC board need to look at cuts to service, Lockhart said he would want to see a broad community consultation, looking first for alternatives to service currently provided through the hospitals.

One example he pointed to is long-term care beds.

“Every day there are 30 people at all of our sites that could be placed in a long-term care bed but can’t find one and so remain in our hospital beds. . . . If we could find some better arrangements for long-term care, that would go a long way to addressing our budgetary problems,” said Lockhart.

Conservative and New Democratic Party health critics have both called on the Liberal government to boost funding to hospitals to address inflation and new labour contracts.