Health Quebec | Mission: save 1 billion

(Quebec) The head of Santé Québec is calling on health establishments to clean up their spending to eliminate a $1 billion deficit without reducing patient services. Three weeks before this new state company takes office, Geneviève Biron promises to improve access to care in “the coming months”.

Emergency waiting times, registration of orphan patients and delay in surgery. The question of access to the health and social services network is “omnipresent,” admits the president and CEO of Santé Québec in an interview with The Press.

Unsurprisingly, the issue – which presents many pitfalls, according to Minister Christian Dubé’s own admission – is at the top of the agency’s list, which will officially take off on 1^is December. The CISSS and CIUSSS will then be integrated into Santé Québec, which will become the sole employer of the network.

« The 1^is December […]it’s not a finish line, it’s a departure, says Geneviève Biron, on a media tour to present her major priorities. Let’s start. Don’t expect everything to be resolved by December 2. It won’t happen. It’s complex. There is a lot to do. »

A perilous mission awaits the “top gun” from the private health sector: eliminate the anticipated budget deficit of health establishments, located “in the waters” of the billion dollars, says M^me Biron. For the former director of Biron Groupe Santé, this is not the time for half-measures, as Quebec expects to record a historic deficit of 11 billion.

“What we ask establishments is to respect their budget and restrict development. We cannot continue to always spend more,” she says.

Without wanting to give specific examples, Geneviève Biron assures that Santé Québec supports network managers to target “the right actions” to prioritize to return to green. The order is clear: no question of affecting services to the population, she assures. Each establishment had to submit its action plan no later than September 30 to achieve a balanced budget in 2024-2025.

According to our information, the CISSS and CIUSSS had to present “administrative measures” to be taken, including “additional optimization measures”, without adding additional budgets. Quebec also asked Santé Québec to develop its own plan to “redress the budgetary situation” of establishments on 1^is December, again according to our information.

“For me, it’s part of the role of a good manager, so I expected that,” replies M^me Biron, who went public because she believes that Quebecers are not getting value for their money in the current health system. She is concerned about the sound management of public finances.

“The increase in the health budget over the past 10 years is around 50%, and the population, 10%,” she explains.

The Press reported that the five most loss-making establishments received visits from independent auditors to assess their performance. On the North Shore, the anticipated deficit for 2024-2025 is estimated at 98.9 million. It is 96.5 million in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Despite the height of the challenge, there are no exceptions to be expected “at this time,” says M^me Biron.

Last year, health establishments recorded a financial hole of 1 billion. Under the Act respecting the balanced budget of the public health and social services networka public establishment must not incur any deficit at the end of a financial year.

Do things differently

Geneviève Biron has been discreet since taking office last May. The last six months have, among other things, allowed him to tour health establishments to “understand the reality” of the teams in the different regions.

The CEO’s main objective is to restore Quebecers’ confidence in their health network. She argues that Santé Québec, which will be responsible for operations, will break down the silos between establishments. This will have an effect on access, she believes.

“We didn’t have that before, pooling,” illustrates M^me Biron.

She mentions the delays in surgery. “Best practices” will be exported. Which means that the most efficient establishments will share their clinical protocols. “It’s something new. The network is very complex, everyone knows that, but there are a lot of interrelated things. But when you work independently, you’re not good at passing the baton. »

Priorities of Santé Québec

• Access (first line, surgery)
• Humans (users and staff)
• Efficiency (review ways of doing things)
• The causes (why is the network struggling to recover?)

Santé Québec will present its “operational targets” in its first strategic plan next March. For the moment, we are maintaining the Ministry’s targets, such as reducing the number of surgical procedures waiting for more than a year to 2,300 and reducing emergency treatment time to 2 hours 5 minutes by March 31. 2025.

Geneviève Biron confirms having completed the establishment of a blind mandate for her interests in Propulia Capital, an investment platform that she founded after leaving the family business Biron Groupe Santé, in 2021.