OPP investigating Renfrew hospital, amid financial concerns, provincial takeover

Article content

Renfrew Victoria Hospital, whose operations were taken over by the province last summer, is now the focus of an Ontario Provincial Police investigation, the OPP confirmed.

In July, the province appointed a supervisor to oversee the 55-bed hospital amid “concerning financial practices.” That supervisor, Altaf Stationwala, is expected to remain in the role until next spring and file a report aimed at improving hospital governance, accountability and ability to provide care. His mandate includes a review of all hospital finances. The hospital’s president and CEO Julie Boudreau remains in place while Stationwala is in the role.

Article content

OPP spokesperson Gosia Puzio confirmed this week that the OPP has an “active investigation related to Renfrew Hospital.” She declined to provide any further information about the nature of the investigation but did indicate that it is being conducted by the OPP Anti-Rackets Squad, which investigates financial crime and fraud.

The “concerning financial practices” at the hospital include the relationship between Renfrew Victoria Hospital and Renfrew Health, a not-for-profit corporation set up by one-time hospital executives and board members, according to financial records.

The Ottawa Citizen has not been able to confirm whether the OPP investigation is related to the financial practices that led the province to appoint a supervisor, or whether the investigation includes Renfrew Health.

A statement previously posted on the hospital’s website credited Renfrew Health, which was created in 2014, with bringing “incredible benefits” to the community, including attracting physicians and improving access to care.

The province appointed a supervisor to oversee and investigate the hospital after a group of whistleblowers, who describe themselves as concerned citizens from Eastern Ontario, raised alarms about transfers of large sums of money from the hospital to Renfrew Health, among other things. Its members, who have remained anonymous, cited a lack of transparency and accountability among key concerns.

Article content

Article content

The Ottawa Citizen has reported that the hospital quietly transferred millions of dollars in surplus funds to Renfrew Health over a period of nearly 10 years, according to records from the Canada Revenue Agency. Those transfers totalled $9.6 million, during a period when many Ontario hospitals complained about chronic underfunding. Some of those funds were later returned to the hospital.

President and CEO Boudreau, in a memo to staff written before the province appointed a supervisor to oversee the hospital, said the not-for-profit was set up with expert advice from counsel and was fully audited every year.

The hospital did not detail its financial relationship with Renfrew Health on its annual audited financial reports, something that has changed since the supervisor was appointed, nor did it specifically detail the transfer of funds from the hospital to the not-for-profit.

In board meeting minutes from March 25, 2021, the hospital appeared to spell out one rationale for transferring money to Renfrew Health — to reduce its year-end surplus. “RVH (Renfrew Victoria Hospital) would like to reduce the operating surplus to one per cent of $300,000 by transferring it to Renfrew Health,” the minutes read in a section under the heading “Year End.” Those and other hospital board meeting minutes previously posted on the hospital’s website were later taken down.

Article content

Hospital funds that are not used at the end of a fiscal year are generally recovered by the provincial Ministry of Health unless special arrangements are made, according to government sources, meaning they would flow back to the province if they had been reported.

In a letter to staff that was viewed by the Ottawa Citizen, Boudreau said Renfrew Health was established as a corporate vehicle to separate non-hospital activities from the hospital and its foundation and to explore “opportunities to further enhance healthcare in our catchment area”. It was set up jointly by the boards of the hospital and the foundation “guided by expert advice received from counsel. With great success it has filled the gaps between supports to the community and the limitations on what the hospital itself could provide.”

To support activities of Renfrew Health, part of the operating surplus of the hospital was transferred to it “in years when this was possible,” Boudreau wrote.

“This practice was fully audited every year — in the financial statements of both organizations — and no concerns were ever raised by our independent auditors or the government authorities that received the audited statements every year,” she said.

Article content

The hospital also gave interest-free loans to some of its employees, according to its own financial statements, and all loans have since been repaid.

The majority of hospital funds come from the province and are designated for patient care. Hospitals cannot give funds to employees for interest-free loans, nor can they use them to recruit physicians, something the hospital also did, according to provincial sources.

A spokesperson for Minister of Health Sylvia Jones declined to comment on an active police investigation. The Citizen also sought a comment from Boudreau but no response was received in time for publication.

A fact sheet about Renfrew Health previously posted on the hospital’s website says the not-for-profit was created “for the sole purpose of benefitting RVH — to help improve health services in our community by supporting the operations of Renfrew Victoria Hospital, advancing the goals and objectives of the hospital and supporting the operations of people and entities that provide health care and social services in Renfrew Health’s catchment area.”

Article content

The information pointed to challenges attracting physicians as a rationale for creating the not-for-profit corporation. “Faced with this reality, RH (Renfrew Health) has attempted to fill the void by providing incentive funding and clinical space. With that support, we are fortunate to have recently attracted several new physicians to our hospital and catchment area.”

Renfrew Health does not appear to have a website or a publicly available phone number.

The Ontario Public Hospitals Act allows the government to appoint a supervisor to take over the administration of a hospital if it is considered in the public interest to do so. It happens infrequently but is considered an important tool to improve public confidence in hospitals. Most hospitals receive the bulk of their funding from the provincial government, but operate independently.

Last month the London Police Service revealed that it had launched a fraud investigation relating to past financial practices at the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC).

LHSC was put under provincial supervision in September over its concerning financial performance. The hospital reported a $150-million deficit in its 2024-2025 budget.

Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.

Article content