Trade war another fiscal threat as Windsor Regional Hospital ends budget year with $38.5M shortfall

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As Windsor Regional Hospital number-crunchers continue to grapple with budgetary red ink, now comes a new fiscal challenge — the U.S.-Canada trade war.

The local hospital, which operates two Windsor campuses, ended its most recent 2024/25 fiscal year with a deficit of roughly $38.5 million on $769 million in total spending, according to its latest annual report.

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Inflationary cost increases, including pricier supplies, higher staffing costs and coping with higher-than-anticipated patient volumes, contributed to the shortfall.

“I think the cost pressures are being experienced across the sector and across the province,” Windsor Regional’s chief financial officer Malissa Gauthier told the Star.

“I can’t speak to any other particular hospital’s financial results, but I would say that our understanding through our work with the OHA (Ontario Hospital Association), that this is not uncommon in the sector this year.”

The hospital, which operates two Windsor campuses, is still awaiting its final funding allocations from the Ministry of Health for the 2025/26 fiscal year, which could be used to help offset the current deficit.

“In terms of this year, our deficit was driven by rising drug and supply costs, overall inflation and wage pressures, and certainly magnified by some really high occupancy rates that have stretched well beyond a typical respiratory season,” said Gauthier.

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Gauthier said many of the pressures contributing to the hospital’s deficit have been ongoing.

A new challenge that hospital administration is being forced to manage is the impact of U.S. tariffs on operational costs, she added.

During the hospital’s annual general meeting held June 26, Windsor Regional’s acting CEO and president Karen Riddell said the past fiscal year “brought both challenges and progress.

“Through it all, our hospital has remained focused on what matters most: providing safe, compassionate, and high-quality care to our community.”

Riddell touted several accomplishments over the fiscal year, including the completion of the hospital’s fourth linear accelerator, a state-of-the-art machine that delivers targeted radiation treatments to people with cancer. The new machine is expected to help administer 26,000 additional cancer treatments every year.

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Riddell said the hospital also started major renovations on the second floor of the Ouellette campus to accommodate a second cardiac catheterization table.

Both projects were funded with more than $30 million provided by the province.

“We are tremendously proud to be the recipients of these needed investments from the province in our existing infrastructure,” Riddell said.

She highlighted the expansion of the Nurse Police Team, now operating seven days a week. The partnership between front-line officers and health care professionals provides “on-the-street” outreach, resulting in reduced emergency room visits.

Meanwhile, she said the region’s new acute care hospital is moving forward ahead of schedule.

Riddell said groundbreaking is expected in early 2026 on Phase One, which includes an administrative and education building, a parkade, and essential site infrastructure.

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In the previous fiscal year ending 2024, Windsor Regional had been facing a $19.7-million shortfall.

That initial figure included retroactive wage settlements tied to Bill 124 from prior years, as well as costs related to the cyberattack that shut down IT systems.

With the help of a one-time funding boost from the Ministry of Health, however, Gauthier said the year-end deficit in 2024 was reduced to about $2.1 million.

mmazak@postmedia.com

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