Ontario hospitals facing 'difficult decisions,' association warns
- Elizabeth Payne
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
Costs for hospitals have been going up by about six per cent a year due, OHA president Anthony Dale said, while in recent years funding increases from the province have averaged around four per cent.
By Elizabeth Payne
Published Jan 16, 2026
Ontario hospitals will face tough choices in the next few years that will likely affect the services they offer, the Ontario Hospital Association is warning.
That could include program consolidations affecting services to patients, closure of some non-core hospital inpatient services and spending reductions in core services.
Anthony Dale, president and CEO of the organization that represents Ontario’s public hospitals, painted a grim picture of the strain on the province’s hospitals during pre-budget consultations Friday.
Many hospitals are grappling with significant challenges, Dale told MPPs.
“Many are projecting year-end deficits, have eroded their working capital and, in the absence of certainty about their revenues, cannot properly plan for the future,” he said.
Costs for hospitals have been going up by about six per cent a year due to population growth, aging and inflation, Dale said. In recent years, the hospital sector has received funding increases from the provincial government of around four per cent.
As a result, Dale said, Ontario’s hospital sector has a “persistent and deepening structural deficit of approximately $1 billion.”
"Long-standing issues such as outdated funding rates have left many hospitals with the kind of debts “that efficiencies cannot resolve,” he added.
