Ontario hospital leaders say new nursing home law could help free up beds – CTV
Sept. 22, 2022
Several Ontario hospital leaders say much-needed beds could be freed up by a new law that would move discharged patients awaiting long-term care to nursing homes not of their choosing, although some hope to avoid using it on a broad scale.
The law, which went into effect Wednesday, allows hospitals to send those patients to homes up to 70 kilometres away in southern Ontario and up to 150 kilometres away in northern regions, on a temporary basis. On Nov. 20, hospitals can begin charging patients $400 per day if they refuse to move.
The province said the law — known as Bill 7 — is part of efforts to ease pressure on hospitals, which have seen emergency departments closed for hours or days at a time in recent months and a massive surgical backlog that was exacerbated by the pandemic.
