Millions of dollars in loans on the books to the Group Health Centre have been converted to higher interest — a direct result of recent news that the organization was forced to de-roster thousands of patients due to a shortage of primary care providers.
The fact that GHC was about to lose a large percentage of its billable customers caught the attention of one of its lenders, which was in the process of finalizing the refinancing of millions of dollars in loans. The unnamed lender proposed not just a shortening of the term of the loans as a result of the operational changes at GHC, but also moved the $4,071,411 that remains owing to a variable rate of 7.2 per cent — almost four times higher than the previous fixed rate.
Asked if the new higher payments are sustainable while the Group Health Centre simultaneously is losing thousands of billable customers, Zin said the answer is reliant on the almost $11 million the organization says is pending from Ontario's Ministry of Health.