Insights Episode10: Best Laid Plans: When a Pandemic Complicates Hospital Funding Reform

Best Laid Plans: When a Pandemic Complicates Hospital Funding Reform 

Karen S. Palmer and Noah Ivers

COVID-19 has created historic financial pressures for Canadian hospitals. When the pandemic escalated in March 2020, hospitals everywhere ramped up in heroic and unprecedented ways in anticipation of a sharp rise in demand for services. Governments – both provincial and federal – increased health sector funding to expand hospitals’ capacity in case the curve was not flattened. But how much flexibility do hospitals have in deciding how they spend this money?