Advancing a Performance-Oriented Model for Primary Care One of AFHTO’s strategic directions is to build evidence of FHT performance and value to patient health is. Key to this is the capacity of FHTs to make the IT/IM investments needed to capture and report data consistently and reliably, and to use it for improvement. Consistent with the direction of the Drummond Report, performance in quality outcomes, practice capacity, and health system costs must be tracked and improved. AFHTO recently submitted a proposal to the Premier’s Office for a pilot project to support primary care teams to do this, and to assess the resulting improvements. Click here to read the proposal summary. Primary care recruitment and retention: Letter to Premier and Finance Minister The Ontario Government has not yet declared whether it will extend the Public Sector Compensation Restraint Act beyond its current expiry date of March 31. As part of our joint advocacy to address the challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified staff in primary care, AFHTO, in partnership with the Association of Ontario Health Centres and the Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario, has sent a letter to Premier McGuinty and Minister Duncan urging Government to avoid extending this freeze on compensation and for immediate action to enable the HOOPP pension plan to be offered to primary care staff. Click here to read the letter. Support for 2012-13 Operating Plan development On Friday FHT EDs received a link, username and password to an online platform for FHT EDs to raise issues, ask questions of their peers and discuss potential solutions in a safe and secure environment. You are welcome to provide input for AFHTO’s March 6 meeting with the Ministry’s FHT Unit on common operational issues. This is an initial pilot to support FHTs in the Operating Plan submission process. As we learn from this collaborative space the approach will be fine-tuned and spread to support communication and collaboration among all team members across Ontario’s FHTs. Click here for a brief video (under 2 min.) on how to make the most of this collaborative space. If you are a FHT ED and did not receive your username and password please contact Sal Abdolzahraei at info@afhto.ca. New resources to help FHTs implement AODA Click here for templates, a checklist and additional resources to assist FHTs in meeting requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA). Template documents may be edited to match individual FHT branding and accessibility requirements. As of January 1, 2012, FHTs must comply with the first standard – Customer Service. (If you require your login information for the Member’s Only website please contact info@afhto.ca) Health Equity: tools and resources for program development If your FHT is doing strategic planning and/or program development, the following resources may be helpful. The Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) tool is one part of the repertoire of equity-driven planning tools. It analyzes the potential impact of service, program or policy changes on health disparities and/or health-disadvantaged populations. It can both help to plan new services, policy development or other initiatives or assess existing programmes. The Wellesley Institute has health equity resources available on their website focused on operationalizing health equity strategies. Resources include a Health Equity Impact Assessment Tool, evidence based planning tools, sample equity strategies from LHINs, and more. Feedback survey on Provider Education Tools of the Ontario Breast Screening Program Cancer Care Ontario (CCO), in partnership with the Centre for Effective Practice (CEP), developed Provider Education Tools for healthcare providers (family physicians, nurse practitioners, genetic counsellors, radiologists) to support the changes to Ontario Breast Screening Program (OBSP). The CEP is conducting an online survey to evaluate the Provider Education Tools. This survey will take approximately 7 minutes to complete. All individual responses will remain confidential. The survey results are analyzed in aggregate only, such that you cannot be identified in any way. Please complete the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OBSP If you would like more information or have any questions, please contact Mary Clelland-Dube at 416 260-7885 or mary.clelland-dube@effectivepractice.org. AFHTO membership renewal invoices will go out March 1 For FHTs that may have funds remaining in their general overhead budget, AFHTO membership renewal notices will go out on March 1. If you want to use funds remaining from other overhead lines to pay for your FHT’s membership renewal, the FHT Unit has confirmed you must speak to your Ministry Rep first.
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