Ontario hospitals say they have $1 billion in funding needs

Ontario hospitals need an additional $1 billion this year to keep pace with factors such as population growth and inflation, leaving them facing pressures far higher than the deficits they faced just at the end of last year, their association says.

Hospitals across the province struggled with deficits, with many of them — small and large, urban and rural — ending the year in the red.

The overall hospital deficit for 2024-25 was $360 million, the Ontario Hospital Association says, down from the initial projection of $706 million, thanks to some year-end revenues including government funding.

But that still left the hospital sector entering 2025-26 saddled with that previous year’s deficit and when adding in this year’s so-far unfunded cost pressures, hospitals need another $1 billion, th