P.E.I. community care homes raise self-pay rates in face of rising costs

Some community care facilities on Prince Edward Island are raising rates for self-pay residents to help cope with skyrocketing costs.

Don MacLean's 89-year-old mother lives in a care home in Prince County, and the cost for her to do so is not subsidized by the province. She pays her monthly expenses through a combination of Old Age Security and savings. 

MacLean says his mother's monthly payments are going up 25 per cent starting May 1 — from $2,465 to $3,100 — and only 16 days' notice was given. 

He says the family can manage for now, but wonders about the future. "We know that that's the rate for this year, but we don't know what the rate is for next year. We don't know how long this rate is for."

The province and the P.E.I. Association of Community Long Term Care negotiate funding rates for subsidized residents who are deemed to need care and qualify for the province to cover the costs. But for people who pay their own living expenses, like MacLean's mother, the monthly rate is at the discretion of the operator.

"Basically all it seems that [the province is] doing in community care is make sure that the homes are safe, that the people are safe, the fire regulations and everything met," MacLean said. 

"But as for the rents, they're leaving that up to the landlords and they can set that whenever they want to increase it."

Cecil Villard is the executive director of the P.E.I. Association for Community Long Term Care, which negotiates with the province on behalf of subsidized residents. 

He says basic operating costs have increased substantially over the last few years, and some operators likely hadn't increased their self-pay rates regularly enough to keep up.

"If you look back over the last three years, I think you can probably conclude that there have been significant increases that operators have had to endure as a consequence of significant increases in insurance, fuel, food, labour — all of those costs have gone up."

P.E.I. Seniors Homes CEO Jason Lee says the company reviews its homes' self-pay rates regularly and gives residents two months' notice when they are about to change.

"Every home does this differently because it's not standardized. But what we do is we sort of follow along with the IRAC calendar," he said, referring to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission.

"Every October IRAC will announce what the annual percentage increase would be … for landlords to pass onto their tenants. We don't necessarily use that exact percentage, but we try to stay within that range," Lee said.

"It gives us a guideline where no guideline exists … And that way we don't have to fall so far behind by not doing it that we have to pass on an extra-large increase to try and catch up."