Winnipeg Regional Health Authority projects higher deficit

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is projecting a deficit that's one-third higher than what was estimated in the last fiscal year, but officials say there's nothing to worry about right now.

The authority is projecting a deficit in the area of $93 million in 2016-17, but president and CEO Milton Sussman said that's an early estimate and he's confident that number will drop before the end of the fiscal year.

"It isn't something we would normally be speaking about at this point. We'd be working with government, working with our sites and with our programs to actually look at how do we actually bring that number down significantly?" he told CBC News on Wednesday.

Sussman noted that at the same time last year, the WRHA had projected a deficit of between $60 million and $65 million, but by the end of the fiscal year, the health region ended up being less than $3 million over budget.

The WRHA is already working on ways to save money in all of its facilities and programs, he said.

"We're doing it both at a site level and program level, but also at a regional level, looking at ways to reduce things like overtime, things like supply costs, things like the amount we're spending on constant care," he said. "We have a number of initiatives."