Seven people fined $400 a day for refusing LTC transfers: Ontario government

Seven people in Ontario have been fined for refusing transfers from a hospital to a long-term care home not of their choosing.

A law enacted in 2022 requires hospitals to levy fines of $400 a day on patients who can be discharged but need long-term care and are refusing to go to a home selected for them by a placement co-ordinator.

The government has long said it was not aware of anyone being fined.

But a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones now says that seven people have actually been fined, but that the ministry was not aware of those cases.

Hannah Jensen says if a fine is issued, a care co-ordinator at a hospital is required to report that to Home and Community Care Support Services, which is then required to report that information to Ontario Health.

She says Ontario Health should have been passing that information along to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Long-Term Care, but the government agency was not doing that.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2024.