2004 Annual Report

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Schedule M – Canadian Blood Services – Litigation Notification Program – Revised Cost Recovery Budget Proposal for April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005

A. Introduction

Canadian Blood Services ("CBS") conducts Tracebacks for the Fund Administrator ("LNP Tracebacks") pursuant to the Order of Mr. Justice Winkler dated April 13, 2000 (the "Order").

Looking forward for the fiscal year 2004-2005 it is anticipated that ten (10) new traceback requests per month will be processed. CBS has also taken into account the other activities it conducts on behalf of the Fund Administrator including Hospital Record Confirmations (HRCs) and work done for appeals.

B. Staffing Costs

CBS conducted a detailed workload measurement study of its entire Lookback/Traceback program in the fall of 2001. Relying on national data, CBS determined that the average amount of time required to complete an average traceback investigation was about 26 hours and the average cost per hour of CBS' traceback staff for the 2004/2005 fiscal period was $21.10 per hour. Using these figures, CBS calculates that the average staffing costs for an average traceback investigation are $548.60. CBS has used this average staffing cost per case to provide the estimate based on the anticipated influx of 10 traceback cases per month. Since this program has evolved to a maintenance phase and the number of new traceback cases being initiated has substantially decreased, these costs will now be incorporated into our Lookback/Traceback operating budget and therefore will not be in this Cost Recovery Proposal. If the influx of new traceback cases does increase throughout the year, CBS will re-evaluate this proposal.

(i) Litigation Notification Program Associate

The Litigation Notification Associate position will still be required. CBS is seeking recovery for the position at an annual salary, inclusive of benefits of $49,840.00. This position is required to maintain the level of service to ensure the timely coordination of updates on traceback cases. The LNP associate will continue to act as a liaison person between the Fund Administrator and CBS centres across the country. Included in this mandate is the tracking of active cases, with specific directives for action, gathering information on Hospital Records and ongoing compiling of reports for submission to the Fund Administrator.

(ii) Deficient cases

In addition to the anticipated influx of 10 cases per month, CBS has approximately 53 cases that are deficient. CBS' practice is to prioritize its traceback work by working on claims in which the six-month time frame under the protocol has commenced. Therefore, it is likely that little work, if any has been done on the deficient cases. CBS seeks recovery of its costs for these deficient cases at the rate of $576.03 per case or $30,529.59. This amount is a 5% increase per case from last year and represents a salary cost increase. A summary is set out in Appendix 2.

(iii)

a. Hospital Record Confirmations

In addition to the regular traceback investigation costs, there are approximately 14 cases that require hospital record confirmations (HRCs). We estimate that each HRC takes approximately 2 hours to complete for our field staff and an additional hour for administrative matters (ie. clarifications with Fund Administrator, interpreting results and report to Fund Administrator). As CBS' administrative costs are built into its costs for the LNP Associate, CBS has not added in this extra one hour of time. In summary, CBS seeks an additional 2 hours of funding for each HRC or $42.20 per HRC. The total sought for the 14 outstanding HRCs is $590.80.

b.  Additional Hospital Record Confirmations

In addition CBS anticipates that there will be an additional 25 requests for HRCs from the Fund Administrator for the next fiscal year. CBS therefore seeks $42.20 per HRC or $1,055.00. CBS understands that, at the end of the fiscal period, the Joint Committee will account for any of these additional HRCs and payment for each additional HRC will be made at the rate of $42.20.

C. Additional Overhead Costs

Mailing and Courier Costs

The projected costs for mailing and courier are $40.00 per month or $480.00 per annum.

The LNP Associate copies the interim and final Reports on the LNP Tracebacks to the claimants and these Reports are sent by regular mail. Additionally, all documents provided to the Fund Administrator are sent via courier. We are seeking to recover the costs of the mailings and courier.

D. Stored Sample Costs

At our meeting on February 1, 2002 , the Joint Committee advised CBS that it would oppose any move by CBS to destroy the stored samples that have undergone testing. As a result, CBS must continue to store these samples and incur costs of storage. CBS seeks the full recovery of its costs of the storage of these samples. We now have confirmed costs. CBS has changed storage suppliers and samples were transferred from Atlas Cold Storage to Erb Cold Storage. The total amount in the revised budget is $14,376.00 as outlined in Appendix 3.

E. Appeals

CBS has been required to participate in the appeals of the Fund Administrator's decisions in a number of ways. For cases in which CBS' traceback investigation plays an important role in the Fund Administrator's decision to deny compensation, the Fund Administrator requests CBS to provide a summary letter of CBS' traceback investigation (the "Appeal Letter"). The Appeal Letter is produced by Head Office. In order to prepare the Appeal Letter, a copy of the pertinent documentation must be obtained from the regional blood centre that conducted the traceback investigation. The LNP Associate is responsible for coordinating with the Centre staff to obtain this documentation and then drafts the Appeal Letter. The Appeal Letter is then reviewed, quality assessed and executed by assistant counsel for CBS. CBS estimates that it takes about ten (10) hours of staffing time to complete the Appeal Letter. It takes about three (3) hours for the Centre staff to pull the traceback file, review it and copy the relevant documentation. It takes about 4 hours for the LNP Associate to review the documentation and draft the Appeal Letter and it takes about one (1) hour for review and quality assessment of the Appeal Letter by the Manager of Transfusion Medicine.

CBS does not know the number of Appeal Letters that will be requested for fiscal year 2004-2005, but will anticipate that 25 cases will result in appeal letters

On the basis that CBS' LNP Associate will be funded for the next year, CBS will seek recovery of the following costs of the Appeal Letters:

Traceback staff time of 5 hours x $21.10/hour totals $105.00; and

Manager, Transfusion Medicine time of 1 hour x $45.00/hour totals $45.00

Therefore the total sought for each Appeal Letter is $150 and CBS will charge only for those Appeal Letters that are requested by the Fund Administrator or Fund Counsel. On the assumption that CBS will be asked to provide 25 Appeal Letters for the fiscal period, the cost is estimated at $3,750.00, as set out in Appendix 1. CBS understands that an adjustment on the cost will be made at the end of the fiscal period based on the number of Appeal Letters actually provided.

Overview of Costs to Be Recovered

Based on CBS's projections the costs sought to be recovered for the 2004-2005 Fiscal

Year is $100,791.39 . A breakdown of this cost recovery is set out in Appendix I.

APPENDIX 1 - Canadian Blood Services Litigation Notification Program - Revised Cost Recovery Budget - April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005  

APPENDIX 2 - Canadian Blood Services Litigation Notification Program - Revised Cost Recovery Budget - April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005  

APPENDIX 3 - Canadian Blood Services Litigation Notification Program - Revised Cost Recovery Budget - April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005  

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