Northern Health saw its surplus shrink slightly last year, but still ended the 2012-13 fiscal year in the black, according to its annual report.
The health authority brought in about $10 million more than it projected in its annual budget, thanks in large part to $4 million each in additional funding from the provincial Ministry of Health and money received from patients, clients and residents - but it spent just over $1 million more than its original budget.
Northern Health spokesman Steve Raper said the additional money came from the health authority accessing new funding opportunities throughout the year.
That left Northern Health with an $8.79 million surplus down from a $10.6 million surplus a year ago.
Acute care continued to be the largest expense item, representing over $430 million worth of the $733 million operating budget. It came in about $6 million over the projected operating budget and saw its overall funding increase by $33 million year over year.
Residential care ($95.9 million) as well as population health and wellness ($37 million) came in almost exactly on budget, while mental health services ($50.6 million) cost almost $4 million less than the original budget.
The only area that saw its year over year funding decrease was corporate services, which spent $61.4 million last year compared with $62.1 million the year before.
The operating surplus allowed Northern Health to pay down its accumulated deficit from $23.4 million down to $14.7 million.
The provincial government directly contributed $530 million to Northern Health's coffers last year, up $34 million from the previous year. The biggest revenue drop came from the Medical Services Plan, which brought in $71.5 million in 2012-13, down from $74.2 million the previous year.
