Deputy minister tasked with reviewing N.W.T.'s health-care spending says it's not about cuts

The deputy minister leading the N.W.T. government's efforts to review health spending says his team is not focused on cutting services. 

Terence Courtoreille is the associate deputy minister of the new nine-person Health Care System Sustainability unit tasked with reining in health-care spending in the territory. 

Courtoreille said as part of their work, they plan to look at programs and services that were funded by federal contribution agreements that no longer exist, but where the programs are still delivered. 

'If there are areas that are chronically underfunded, we want to look at those cost drivers to see what's going on," Courtoreille said. 

When asked if the review will look into cutting services, Courtoreille said, "it's not about that."

"We really want to have a look at what are we doing, why are we doing it, see if there's a business case for us to do it more efficiently going forward," he said. 

Courtoreille said the team will also be looking closely at medical travel costs.

"We're hearing anecdotally that perhaps some of the medical travel that's going on isn't required or it isn't necessary," he said. 

The review will also look at what services are being delivered outside of the territory.

"Maybe it's not about just moving the people to the service, maybe there's a business case for moving the service to the people," Courtoreille said. 

He said he and his team will look at options and "the full suite of services," like virtual care. 

"The growth in health care has exceeded our level of affordability," he said. 

N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson said the territory's health-care system has been "overwhelmed" since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The government will put $2 million toward the new unit in its first year.