New analysis on long-term care funding in Alberta

In September 2013 we released a report called “The Alberta Health Services Patient/Care-Based Funding Model for Long Term Care: A Review and Analysis.” This report evaluates long-term care funding in Alberta. Creating an environment that provides cost-efficient, accessible and high quality LTC is a key objective for Alberta Health Services (AHS). Analyses of weighted cost per day in 2009 revealed previous LTC funding mechanisms in Alberta were disconnected from resident’s needs and reforms were deemed necessary. The development and implementation of the Patient/Care-Based Funding (PCBF) represents a monumental multi-year undertaking by a large number of individuals across the healthcare system. In function, the PCBF model is a stand-alone outputbased allocation method which ‘splits the pie’ of total LTC funding among providers based on aligning the funding per resident with the intensity of caring for each resident, including the scope of expected services. This report was commissioned by AHS and identifies strengths and weaknesses of the LTC funding model and provides specific feedback to AHS regarding possible actions to mitigate actual or perceived weaknesses of the LTC funding model.