Facilities could be developed or expanded under the options of new public capital projects or new partnerships with private or non-profit organizations. The health authority also has the responsibility for the selection of new partners, commonly referred to as service providers, for these facilities. This selection process was previously managed by the MOH as part of the Continuing Care division, a provincial program that is now devolved to health authorities programs. There is an estimated 21,500 public beds and 3,500 private beds, for a total of 25,000 provincially funded residential care beds in British Columbia. The MOH has indicated in discussions with health authorities that future expansions in bed capacity of public facilities will be very limited due to limited availability of capital funds for new building costs.
Capital funds are only available by expansion of provincial debt.
The provincial debt has grown significantly in recent years and, as a result, the province has developed initiatives to limit further increases in this debt. Preference may be given to the expansions of facilities by initiating new partnerships with private or non-profit organizations where these organizations build and own the facility and the province does not incur any debt. The MOH then provides annual operating funding to the health authority who in turn contracts with the facility developer, referred to as the service provider. The MOH is in the process of reviewing provincial policy on the development of private public partnerships. This research project was originally intended to review the criteria for the development of private facilities as public private partnerships.