Overall Status: In Progress 

Timeline: Fall 2024 – Fall 2027

What we are doing

We are working to modernize the medical travel process to make it easier to understand and navigate, helping residents access the care they need.

This includes incorporating medical travel into the Extended Health Benefits (EHB) Policy which will improve how support is delivered. The goal is to:

• Improve the experience for residents and providers
• Reduce confusion
• Make processes and policies easier to understand

How we will do it

• Review and clarify medical travel support policies, processes, and exceptions
• Improve how we communicate medical travel information to residents and staff
• Develop service standards to make expectations and timelines clearer
• Strengthen monitoring and evaluation of medical travel support
• Review boarding home and air ambulance contracts for improvement opportunities
• Confirm funding and staffing to support sustainable delivery

Progress to date

Review of medical travel benefits, exceptions, and appeals

Status: In progress
Timeline: Fall 2024-Winter 2026
Notes:

We are reviewing processes for benefits, exceptions, and appeals to reduce confusion and streamline decision-making. 

Work completed or underway:

• Initial inventory of processes for benefits, exceptions, and appeals (completed – Spring 2025)
• Policy consideration summary table developed (completed – Spring 2025)
• Process mapping and documentation with system partners (completed – September 2025)
• Validation of workflows with regional leadership (in progress – target Winter 2026)
• Scoping reviews of boarding home and air ambulance contracts (planned – early 2026)
• Development of a new Medical Travel manual and service standards (planned – starting Winter 2026)

Update the Medical Travel Policy

Status: In progress
Timeline: Fall 2024-Fall 2026
Notes:

We are modernizing the Medical Travel Policy to streamline administration and improve service clarity.

Work completed or underway:

• Drafting updated policy with clarifications and improvements (in progress – target Fall 2025)
• Implementation planning (in progress – target Fall 2025)
• Communications planning for public rollout of revised policy (in progress – target Fall 2025)
• Development of updated performance indicators (in progress – target Fall 2025)
• Implementation and rollout of updated policy and monitoring framework (planned – Fall 2026)

Update to NIHB Agreement related to Medical Travel

Status: In progress
Timeline: 2025-2026
Notes:

We are working with the federal government to update the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) agreement. Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) has paused negotiations while waiting for the release of the federal budget in November 2025.

Work completed or underway:

• Negotiating the agreement with the federal government (in progress – target Fall 2026)
• Implementing agreement changes and plan for financial implications (planned – 2026)
• Monitoring progress and reporting on overall performance (planned – 2026 onward)