Third set, Written Question 28-20, Medical Travel.
Medical travel represents a significant and growing cost within the Northwest Territories health system, and its coordination involves multiple steps across regional medical travel offices, non-insured health benefits (NIHB) program approvals and referral processes administered by the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA). Recent budget documents highlight substantial expenditures for medical travel, underscoring the importance of initiatives intended to improve efficiency and streamline referrals.
My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services:
- Would the Minister provide a status report on the "referral coordination project" identified by the NTHSSA in its 2023 Deficit Reduction Plan as an initiative to improve the coordination of air ambulance and medical travel, including information on the project's objectives, timelines, activities undertaken, milestones achieved to date, and any measured impacts on service coordination and costs?
- Can the Minister provide detailed policy rationale which links the outcomes of the referral coordination project to the proposal in the 2026-2027 Main Estimates for three new medical travel case managers, including how these positions will operationalize referral coordination, reduce duplication or rebooking, and improve patient experience. And,
- What performance measures does the department use to assess the effectiveness of the referral coordination project and the proposed medical travel case manager positions? Specifically, what indicators are being tracked to evaluate outcomes?