| The Acute Care Funding Project is an undertaking by the Government of Alberta to restructure the mechanism by which acute care hospitals are funded. To date only the inpatient component of the project has been implemented. Hospitals, since 1989, have been funded for their inpatient portion of the budget, in accordance with a funding formula derived by the Case Mix Institute of Queens University, Ontario. A lack of any coherent documentation explaining the infrastructure of this formula has left hospitals in a void. They have been unable to critique the formula's redistribution of dollars between hospitals that have complex organizational cultures and that vary vastly in size, location, case mix of patients treated e.t.c. Preparing annual budgets knowing that the formula may affect each subsequent years funding radically has made planning an uncertain and risky task.;The University of Alberta Hospitals have in conjunction with the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Alberta, funded a study attempting to recreate the precise mechanism by which funding is redistributed. In addition, a case mix group analysis was done to examine specific areas of concern that the hospital has with the funding formula, the internal affects of physician practice and variable resource utilization between patients.;Through a greater understanding of the formula and its strengths and weaknesses, hospitals will be able to react quickly to funding adjustments and ensure that quality patient care is provided at all times. |
