These questions included:

• A perception that operators today are seeing higher resident acuity in long-term care settings – ever since Alberta initiated a separate care stream (designated supportive living) for lower acuity residents.

• A sense that staff were struggling to meet the care needs of residents within the funded staffing hours.

• Concerns about the funding model’s ability to support different facility types and the upkeep of aging buildings and care homes. 

We found that an acuity-based model is still optimal for funding contracted operators and AHS to deliver care. 

We also recommended some adjustments to PCBF – to better reflect today’s care environment and emerging changes in the populations we serve. Many of CHAA’s recommendations were well articulated in the province’s 2021 Facility-Based Continuing Care Review, and are now being evaluated in a thorough provincial review of the PCBF model.

Three years of the COVID-19 pandemic have also generated new insights across Canada regarding how care homes across the country are funded, staffed and supported. These learnings, which were captured in a provincial audit (COVID-19 in Continuing Care Facilities), are also being incorporated into Alberta’s funding model review. 

To answer these questions, CHAA commissioned a year-long study and economic analysis on the first decade of PCBF in Alberta. The study looked at:

• The accuracy of PCBF’s inputs and assessment tools in measuring resident health needs and acuity levels.

• The extent to which PCBF appropriately funds staffing hours and labour costs to meet care needs.

• The ability of PCBF to accommodate a variety of care models and facility types/sizes, particularly for resident populations with dementia.

Our study involved analyzing a decade's worth of funding advice from across 19 not-for-profit care homes, representing nearly 3,000 long-term care spaces. We also analyzed collective agreements over the same period to assess how well funding aligns with actual labour costs.