WRHA posts negative net assets of $21.2 million

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This article was published 27/10/2017 (2926 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Years of cumulative deficits have forced the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to report negative net assets for the first time in its 18-year history.

The health authority reported $21.2 million in negative net assets for the 2016-17 fiscal year during its annual general meeting Friday at Grace Hospital.

“It’s not catastrophic, it’s an indication that repetitive deficits eat away at the assets of a corporation,” said Derek Johannson, vice-chairman of the WRHA’s board of directors.

While the WRHA has reported deficits for several years, the $28.6-million deficit it posted for the most recent fiscal year was considerably higher than previous years — early $26 million higher than the $2.8-million deficit it reported in 2015-16.

“It certainly is fixable,” Johannson said, noting the situation is not a result of the province’s mandate the health authority find $83 million in annual savings, but rather a byproduct of the WRHA consistently overspending its budget.

“It definitely does have an impact, but it’s a cash-flow or balance sheet-type impact,” WRHA chief financial officer Shelley Hopkins said.

While Hopkins said it isn’t a financial issue the health authority expects to be able to resolve this year, it shouldn’t take more than two to three years to bring the WRHA’s net assets back into the black.

“We’ll turn it around. That will be the outcome as we reduce our expenditures and balance our budget,” she said.

The WRHA’s posted $28.6-million deficit came in just under the $30-million deficit Manitoba’s health minister had projected in March.

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca