Abstract
IntroductionOn June 30, 2012, Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) funding was cut for refugee claimant healthcare. The potential financial and healthcare impacts of these cuts on refugee claimants are unknown.MethodsWe conducted a one-year retrospective chart review spanning 6 months before and after IFHP funding cuts at The Hospital for Sick Children, a tertiary care children's hospital in Toronto. We analyzed emergency room visits characteristics, admission rates, reasons for admission, and financial records including billing from Medavie Blue Cross.ResultsThere were 173 refugee children visits to the emergency room in the six months before and 142 visits in the six months after funding cuts. The total amount billed to the IFHP program during the one-year of this study was $131,615. Prior to the IFHP cuts, 46% of the total emergency room bills were paid by IFHP compared to 7% after the cuts (p<0.001).InterpretationAfter the cuts to the IFHP, The Hospital for Sick Children was unable to obtain federal health coverage for the vast majority of refugee claimant children registered under the IFHP. This preliminary analysis showed that post-IFHP cuts healthcare costs at the largest tertiary pediatric institution in the country increased.
Highlights
On June 30, 2012, Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) funding was cut for refugee claimant healthcare
The objective of this study is to examine the impact of the funding changes to the IFHP at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), looking at the impacts on health care payments to the hospital, health care costs and changes in Emergency Room (ER) visits and hospitalization rates
The child refugee claimant populations measured six months before and six months after the IFHP cuts were similar in terms of their migratory and legal status, with the exception of the institution of the Designated Country of Origin list that affected patients arriving to Canada after December 15, 2012
Summary
On June 30, 2012, Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) funding was cut for refugee claimant healthcare. In 1957, Canada created the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) (Order-in-Council PC 157-11/848), which provided funding for refugees and refugee claimants for medications, vaccines, periodic health assessments, psychological services and dental care. Refugee claimants can either continue to receive the same funding for services previously offered; receive funding for services deemed ‘‘urgent’’ or ‘‘essential’’; or some groups, for example those from a DCO, receive no government funding for health care [6,7]. To protect the Canadian public, the federal government stated that all refugee claimants would be covered for the prevention or treatment of ‘‘a disease that is a risk to public health or to treat a condition of public safety concern’’ [7]
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