The Manitoba government has directed Prairie Mountain Health leadership to reduce for-profit nursing agency costs by 15 per cent by March 2026 as part of a systemwide effort to refocus funding on nurses in the public system.
In a media release today, Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara said, “Prairie Mountain Health has consistently been dealt a bad hand. Alongside the challenges in the area, the previous government gave the region little to no support by cutting services, closing ERs and firing nurses resulting in millions overspent on private nursing agencies. Enough is enough. It’s time to put a hard stop on private for-profit nursing agency over-spending and re-invest in the public system. Our government is committed to working with all health regions to bring nurses back into the public system.”
This direction comes alongside the Manitoba government’s efforts to invest in publicly funded health care and encourage nurses to join the public system, the minister added.
The Manitoba government recently issued a request for proposals (RFP) to reduce the number of contracted agencies at prices that ensure the majority of health-care funding is directed to public front-line workers and their patients, noted the minister. The RFP is now closed, and the government will begin reviewing and evaluating proposals this week.
In the past, Manitoba has held hundreds of distinct contracts with more than 70 private for-profit agencies, with little to no policies on how to limit those agencies’ impact on the nurses working in the public system or the rates they charge to publicly funded service delivery organizations, noted the minister.
