Mountain View Seniors' Housing is hoping to recover over $900,000 in 2012 deficits this year, officials say.
The deficit is the result jointly of health-care service delivery costs, unavoidable facility maintenance, and other labour costs, said MVSH CAO Sam Smalldon.
An annual accountability audit required by the minister and the organization's stakeholders resulted in an unqualified (or clean) audit, which Smalldon said is a seal of approval for MVSH's financial processes and reporting practices, despite the deficit.
“We got a very clean audit,” said Smalldon of the report, which was released by Collins Barrow Red Deer LLP, the organization's chartered accountants.
“There was only two small audit recommendations which are easy to fix. In previous years, we've had up to nine that have been checked off now. We've improved or solved those previous nine.”
The cause of the deficit is a one-off occurrence, Smalldon assured, and said it was partly due to health-care costs in Olds at the Mount View Lodge, and Alberta Health Services funding that never came through.
“The delivery of health care is to be funded by Alberta Health Services, but there was a misunderstanding about the level of care we were providing under Alberta Health Service's guidance,” he said.
Basically, MVSH delivered the care without receiving funding for it, he said.
“That's a one-time thing that won't repeat, and has been brought back into alignment,” he said. “The plan (to cover the deficit) is made up of $800,000 in expenditure management or reductions, and $250,000 in additional revenues.”
Originally, plans were to have Olds deliver health-care levels one, two, and three, said Smalldon, but in the end it only received funding for the first two levels.
“Level three is the first stage of 24/7 care,” he explained. “Which means you have additional staffing because of the additional risk. Basically, we delivered it because it was required, but the funding was not there.
“The whole facility was designed and approved several years before it was built to allow for level three care on the first floor.”
The “Safe Unit” as it is called, Smalldon said, helps staff to keep wandering residents safe through use of lockdown.
“That whole transition meant that we built delivery for that care, and then they (AHS) withdrew, more or less,” he said. “They didn't fund us for it because they didn't feel they had to. It was kind of like having a partner that doesn't follow through.”
Since this time, Smalldon said, MVSH has returned the Olds facility to solely deliver care at levels one and two, as that's what it can afford.
“We have the space for (level three) care, and more space on the campus for level four. We could build new units someday. But again, it would be based on a funding agreement, and there was no funding agreement that got finalized for level three,” he said.
Smalldon said AHS waited until after service level three delivery had taken place for residents within the facility before it decided not to approve funding for level three services, leaving non-profit MVSH to foot the bill and rejig its service structure.
MVSH is unable to recover these funds through AHS, he said.
“It wasn't really a good faith thing. It's frustrating. If it happens once – shame on them. But if it happens twice, shame on us. We won't let it happen again.”
The other half of the deficit was due to a mixture of labour and maintenance costs. Smalldon said the MVSH has a clear approach to catch up on outstanding risk management issues within the organization's facilities, which included snow removal, yardwork, and building maintenance among other things.
“For instance, in Sundre and Carstairs, the lodges that are approximately 30 years old. So we can't avoid paying to fix what breaks there,” he said.
The MVSH also instituted a full human resources and payroll department in 2012, which has helped make policies affordable, he said.
“We never had a full payroll and HR (human resources) system until last year, and all our labour costs are now known, and we've adjusted our policies so that they're affordable,” he said.
The non-profit organization's residential prices were raised halfway through its 2012 year, which is also expected to contribute to the overall reduction of the deficit, said Smalldon.
Accountability to the municipal stakeholders takes place in the form of a quarterly review by the MVSH board, and the recent board review found that they are on track with their plan, he said.
Stakeholders and interested parties can access the organization's financial statements and board meeting minutes on its website at www.mvsh.ca.
