Ontario reimbursed $219K for palliative, homecare medical supplies shortage

Supply shortages of equipment and medication for patients receiving home and palliative care impacted more than 350 people across the province, Global News can reveal, after the government awarded a new supply contract.

Last September, a recently formed government agency, Ontario Health atHome, handed out new contracts for companies to supply medical equipment used by people dying or receiving medical care at home.

Shortly after the new contracts kicked in, doctors in the province began to report issues with medication and equipment deliveries.

At the time, Health Minister Sylvia Jones called the delays “unacceptable” and the government promised to reimburse those who had been forced to go out and try to buy the medical supplies themselves.

“I want to assure the people of Ontario that we have been on this issue since we first learned that there were shortages,” she said in October. “We know this is unacceptable, and we are not going to allow this to continue.”

Now, information obtained by Global News through a freedom of information appeal shows that a total of 353 claims were reimbursed for medical supplies that never arrived. The Ford government paid back a total of $218,599 in relation to Ontario Health atHome delivery problems between September and Dec. 19, 2024.

The information was confirmed by the agency to settle a freedom of information law appeal after it initially refused to disclose documents relating to the cost of the supply issues.

NDP Health Critic France Gélinas said the numbers were upsetting because each represented someone who had suffered as a result of the contract issues.

“Many people who need home care supplies are people who are on palliative care, … are people who are in need of pain medications to control their pain,” she said. “And to think that they had to go out and buy a quarter of a million dollars worth of supplies in order to be able to stay home.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said the issues had been resolved and the system now functioned as it should.

“Access to medical supplies has stabilized and Ontario Health atHome continues to work closely with their vendors to ensure consistent availability and timely delivery to patients, families and caregivers across the province,” they said in a statement sent to Global News.

The Ford government passed legislation at the end of 2023 to create Ontario Health atHome, a move it said would better coordinate home care across the province.

When the supply issues occurred in October 2024, Bayshore Specialty Rx, one of the companies responsible for the distribution of the supplies, said a confluence of factors, including unexpected stock issues, impacted their fulfillment system.

“We sincerely apologize to those impacted and we are fully committed to restoring the level of service that Ontario home health care patients deserve,” the company, which operates in the southwest region of Ontario, wrote in a statement.

The government previously indicated to Global News that the majority of supply issues related to the Bayshore medical contract.

In January, a government source confirmed that the CEO of Ontario Health atHome had been let go from her role.

Gélinas lamented how the problem played out last year — and said there had not been enough action on the file from the government since.

“It was a disaster, it was a disaster,” she said. “People went days on end without pain control, it was just awful.”

— with files from The Canadian Press