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London Health Sciences Centre's budget deficit this year is $78.1 million, $2 million more than expected, the treasurer of the centre's board of directors said at its annual general meeting on Wednesday.
John Leach told colleagues that the hospital had begun taking steps to reduce its budget shortfall “in recent weeks.”
“The road ahead is going to be tough,” said David Musiji, the hospital's new acting CEO amid major upheaval in leadership. “We will get through this together.”
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The hospital's operating budget for 2024-25 is $1.6 billion, up from about $1.5 billion the previous year.
The budget deficit is about $30 million more than last year's shortfall.
The financial report released Wednesday will be the first under Musizi, the president and CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital, who was appointed interim CEO of LHSC in mid-May.
Health-care industry observers said he came to the job with a reputation as a prudent fiscal manager, an executive not afraid to act and someone with close ties to the Ontario government.
David Musiji is acting chief executive of the London Health Sciences Centre in London. (Derek Ruttan/London Free Press)
Musisi will succeed Jackie Shleifer Taylor, who has been CEO since 2021 and has been on leave since 2023. Taylor is no longer employed at LHSC, the hospital announced earlier this month, and the board announced he should not continue in his role due to growing deficits and travel expenses for senior executives totaling more than $470,000.
Shleifer-Taylor will earn $803,584 in salary and taxable benefits in 2023, making him Ontario's highest-paid hospital executive outside of Toronto. Hospital officials declined to comment on Taylor's retirement benefits.
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His tenure was tumultuous, having taken the helm just two years before Shleifer-Taylor took a leave of absence. When he left, the hospital was facing losses and had 22 senior executives on its payroll, including three presidents. The hospital plans to pay $1.5 million to five departing executives in 2021 and to terminate a formal collaboration agreement with St. Joseph's Healthcare London.
LHSC is also under investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Health beginning in November 2023 for plans to send senior executives and staff on three business trips.
Last fall, 22 executives visited Portugal and the United Arab Emirates. After the London Free Press published details of the first two trips, the hospital canceled a trip for 11 senior staff to Australia in November, two days before they were due to depart.
Shleifer Taylor took over as CEO from Paul Woods, who was fired in 2021 following criticism over cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Woods filed a $3.5 million lawsuit against LHSC over his firing and later settled with the hospital.
ndebano@postmedia.com
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