Expense Reporting

As part of the Broader Public Sector (BPS) Accountability Act Ontario hospitals must publicly post information about expense claims made by hospital executives and Board Members.

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre embraces this requirement. It is a reasonable way to promote public confidence in our management of taxpayer money, and is consistent with policies that apply to senior leaders in government and other broader public sector organizations.

About Hospital Expenses

Hospitals, like many other complex businesses, may have executives who incur business-related expenses from time to time that are permissible and should be reimbursed.

Business-related expenses identified by the government for public reporting typically fall under three categories: 1) meals, 2) travel, and 3) hospitality.

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre has a well-developed policy related to business-related expenses incurred by our staff.

About Hospital Accountability

Ontario’s hospitals operate in one of the most demanding health care accountability systems in all of Canada. Virtually every aspect of hospitals’ performance is regularly subject to external, independent scrutiny.

In fact, hospitals have initiated or played a key role in shaping most of their stringent accountability measures. Some of Ontario transparency efforts include:

• Reviews by the Auditor General of Ontario
• Accreditation by Accreditation Canada
• Publicly reporting of patient safety indicators on every hospitals’ website
• Reporting quality measures on a consumer-oriented website, myhospitalcare.ca
• Hospital Service Accountability Agreements (HSAAs)
• Public reporting of wait times through Ontario’s Wait Times Strategy
• Participation in public sector salary disclosure

Types of expenses disclosed: Disclosures include travel, accommodation, meals, hospitality and other travel incidentals. Course or conference registration fees and expenses related to other education materials are not included in these reports. Expense amounts include the non-refundable portion of HST.”Expense amounts include the non-refundable portion of HST.

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is required to post expense claim information where the expenses are reimbursed by the hospital using public funds. Expenses reimbursed by another organization are excluded from the hospital’s disclosure.

Designated Individuals: This includes members of the Board of Directors, Chief of Staff, President & CEO and members of the hospital’s senior executive group who report directly to the President & CEO.

Reporting Periods

Expense information will be posted on a semi-annual basis for a period of two years from the posting date, beginning in the 2011/12 fiscal year. The reporting period reflects when the expense were paid.