Bill 85, the Transparent and Accountable Health Care Act, 2025, extends Ontario’s public-sector transparency regime to a wide set of organizations that receive public health dollars. It creates two categories—"major health sector organizations" (those receiving at least $1 million from the Ministry of Health in a fiscal year) and "publicly-funded suppliers" (those receiving an aggregate $1 million directly or indirectly from major organizations or other suppliers)—and deems them subject to three existing statutes and additional audit authority.
Practically, the bill pulls hospitals, long‑term care homes, community providers, for‑profit contractors and layered suppliers into the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act and the Ombudsman Act, and authorizes the Auditor General to audit any aspect of their operations for fiscal years when they meet the monetary threshold. That combination increases disclosure and oversight but also creates new compliance obligations, chain‑level reporting questions, and potential operational impacts for contracted suppliers and procurement practices.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Act deems entities that meet a $1 million public‑funds threshold to be designated employers under Ontario’s executive compensation and salary‑disclosure statutes and to be governmental organizations under the Ombudsman Act, and gives the Auditor General authority to audit their operations for qualifying fiscal years.
Who It Affects
Directly affected are organizations receiving $1M+ from the Ministry of Health (e.g., hospitals, boards of health, Ontario Health entities, long‑term care homes) and suppliers in funding chains who, in aggregate, receive $1M+ from those entities—this explicitly includes for‑profit businesses and group purchasing organizations.
Why It Matters
The bill closes a transparency gap by extending public‑sector disclosure and oversight into privately operated or arm’s‑length entities that rely on public health funding; this changes reporting obligations, increases audit exposure and may alter contracting and supplier arrangements across the health sector.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
Bill 85 sets a clear monetary trigger and two linked categories to sweep organizations into provincial transparency rules. A "major health sector organization" is any person or entity that receives at least $1 million in public funds from the Ministry of Health in a fiscal year beginning on or after April 1, 2027.
The text lists examples—boards of health, hospitals, Ontario Health and its components, long‑term care homes, air ambulance providers, integrated community health service centres, out‑of‑hospital premises and group purchasing organizations—but the definition is functional: the $1 million receipt in a fiscal year is the determinative fact.
The bill builds a parallel category, "publicly‑funded suppliers," to capture subcontractors, vendors and other parties that receive public dollars indirectly through major organizations. That definition aggregates receipts in a fiscal year and counts grants, contracts for goods and services, fee‑for‑service payments, loans and loan guarantees.
The aggregation language means layered supply chains can pull otherwise private firms into the statute if their total receipts from covered health sector players reach the threshold.Once an entity meets the threshold in a fiscal year, Bill 85 deems it to be a designated employer for the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, a governmental organization for the Ombudsman Act, and an employer for the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act for the applicable fiscal year(s). In short, affected entities will face executive compensation rules (including limits or reporting obligations in the BPS regime), public payroll disclosure obligations under the Sunshine List statute, and complaint and review jurisdiction by the Ombudsman.The Auditor General receives express authority to audit "any aspect" of the operations of a qualifying major health sector organization or publicly‑funded supplier, but the audit power is tied to fiscal years in which the $1 million threshold is met.
The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations to carry out the Act. The Act comes into force on Royal Assent, meaning the April 1, 2027 fiscal‑year trigger is the operative start point for counting receipts but the law itself activates immediately when passed.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The monetary threshold that pulls an entity into the Act is $1 million in public funds in a single provincial fiscal year; the fiscal‑year test applies to years starting on or after April 1, 2027.
A "publicly‑funded supplier" is captured on an aggregate basis: direct and indirect receipts from major health sector organizations or other publicly‑funded suppliers count toward the $1 million threshold.
The Act explicitly includes entities that carry on business for profit; private companies and for‑profit contractors are not excluded by corporate form.
When an entity meets the threshold, it is treated as a designated employer under the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, subject to the Ombudsman Act, and treated as an employer under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act for the relevant fiscal years.
The Auditor General may audit any aspect of operations of qualifying entities, but that audit authority applies only in fiscal years in which the entity receives at least $1 million in public funds.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Purpose statement
This short provision frames the Act as a transparency and accountability measure focused on funding flows for health care services. Its practical effect is to signal that later provisions should be read as aligning funding receipt with disclosure and oversight obligations rather than as narrow program rules.
Key definitions and scope
Section 2 imports the provincial fiscal year and the Broader Public Sector Accountability Act definition of "public funds." That linkage means existing definitions of grants, transfer payments and other public‑fund constructs matter for operationalizing threshold calculations and creates reliance on established administrative practice for identifying public funding.
Major health sector organizations — the $1M Ministry trigger
This section makes the Ministry of Health the origin point for the primary category: any entity receiving at least $1 million from the Ministry in a fiscal year beginning on or after April 1, 2027 qualifies. By tying the test to Ministry disbursements it focuses the law on provincially funded health flows and gives the Ministry’s payment records practical importance for compliance assessments.
Publicly‑funded suppliers — aggregating indirect funding
Section 4 casts a wider net by counting aggregate receipts received directly or indirectly from major organizations or other suppliers, and explicitly includes grants, payments for goods and services, fee‑for‑service arrangements and loans/loan guarantees. This aggregation creates a cascading effect: large purchasers can bring multiple tiers of suppliers into the statute even when the Ministry is not the direct payor.
Deeming to Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act
If an entity is not already a designated employer under the BPS Executive Compensation Act, the bill deems it to be one for fiscal years in which it meets the $1 million test. For affected entities this will trigger compensation governance, reporting and any applicable salary or appointment restrictions found in the BPS regime.
Deeming to Ombudsman Act jurisdiction
Entities meeting the financial threshold are deemed governmental organizations under the Ombudsman Act if they were not already covered. That extends the Ombudsman’s complaint jurisdiction and investigatory powers to these organizations for qualifying fiscal years and brings their internal review and complaint processes into greater public scrutiny.
Deeming to Public Sector Salary Disclosure (Sunshine List)
This section treats qualifying entities as employers under the Sunshine List statute in years they meet the threshold, exposing employees whose compensation exceeds the statutory pay cutoff to public disclosure. The provision is limited to fiscal years meeting the $1 million test, rather than permanently reclassifying the employer.
Auditor General authority, regulations and commencement
Section 8 authorizes the Auditor General to audit any aspect of a qualifying entity’s operations, but only for fiscal years meeting the threshold. Section 9 gives the Lieutenant Governor in Council broad regulation-making power to carry out the Act, and Sections 10–11 set commencement on Royal Assent and the short title. The combination of audit power and regulatory authority gives the government tools to fine‑tune definitions and reporting mechanics later.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on this topic across all five countries.
Explore this topic in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Ontario residents and patients — they gain broader visibility into how public health dollars are spent, including executive compensation and payroll disclosures for entities operating with public funds, which supports public accountability.
- Ombudsman and Auditor General offices — both gain clearer statutory jurisdiction to investigate complaints and audit operations of entities in the health funding chain, strengthening oversight tools and information access.
- Researchers, journalists and labour organizations — expanded salary disclosure and deemed public‑sector status will surface more data for analysis, collective bargaining context and public interest reporting.
Who Bears the Cost
- Major health sector organizations and publicly‑funded suppliers — hospitals, community providers, group purchasing organizations and private contractors will face additional reporting obligations, compliance costs and potential limits on compensation practices.
- Smaller suppliers near the $1M aggregate threshold — firms that previously operated without public‑sector obligations may incur new legal, accounting and disclosure work if they cross the threshold, creating compliance cliffs.
- Ministry of Health and provincial oversight bodies — the Ministry and central agencies may need to develop monitoring, record‑sharing and enforcement processes, and the Auditor General’s office may face expanded audit workloads without dedicated resource increases.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill pits public transparency—extending oversight and salary disclosure to anyone receiving material public health funds—against the operational and commercial costs of bringing private suppliers and diverse health organizations under public‑sector rules; increasing accountability may also raise compliance burdens, chill contracting options and expose commercially sensitive information.
The bill relies on a monetary bright‑line to extend multiple, distinct transparency regimes to a heterogeneous set of entities. That simplicity helps administration but invites complex operational questions: how to calculate "aggregate" receipts across multi‑tier supply chains, whether in‑kind benefits or indirect cost allocations count, and how to reconcile differing definitions of "public funds" across statutes.
The regulation‑making power can address some of these mechanics, but the text leaves heavy lifting to future regulations and administrative guidance.
There is also a tension between public disclosure and confidentiality. Applying the Sunshine List and executive compensation rules to private and for‑profit entities raises potential privacy and commercial sensitivity issues—disclosure can affect labour markets, procurement competitiveness and vendor negotiations.
Finally, the Auditor General’s catch‑all audit authority increases oversight reach but may lead to duplicative reviews where other regulators, professional colleges or funders already audit or inspect the same activities.
There's more to this law than the bill.
Codify Laws traces every connection across the legislative lifecycle.