The province has directed Prairie Mountain Health 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.
Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara blamed the previous Tory government for cutting services, closing ERs and firing nurses resulting in millions overspent on private nursing agencies.
Asagwara added this direction comes alongside the Manitoba government’s efforts to invest in publicly funded health care and encourage nurses to join the public system.
In the past, Manitoba 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, according to the Minister.
