Month: March 2011

  • Ideas and resources for FHT planning

    FHTs are currently in the process of developing plans and budget submissions for the 2011-12 fiscal year.  In the past few days AFHTO has received ideas, resources and offers of assistance that may be useful to you as you develop your plans.  These include:

    • Occupational Therapy:

    o        For FHTs that may have a new or first opportunity to propose programs and services that may engage the addition of an occupational therapist to their complement of IHPs, the Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists (OSOT) has offered to assist FHTs with their proposals and provides a variety of useful resources on their website.

    o        Click here for further information. Contact Anne Murphy-Turliuk, OSOT’s FHT Project Lead at 416-322-3011/877-676-6768 ext 233 or by e-mail at amurphy-turliuk@osot.on.ca .

    • Enhanced 18-month Well-Baby Visit:

    o       Now province-wide in Ontario, this program introduces a process using standardized tools to facilitate health professionals to have a broader discussion with parents on child development, parenting, literacy, and connection to local community programs and services that promote healthy child development.  The visit also provides an opportunity to identify those children who will require referral to specialized services.  The standardized tools include a parent checklist (such as the Nipissing District Developmental Screen (NDDS)) and an evidence-based guide for health care professionals (such as the Rourke Baby Record (RBR)).

    o       The website www.18monthvisit.ca is an excellent resource for information and resources relating to the visit for both health care professionals and families.

    o       The billing code for the enhanced 18-month visit for family physicians is A002 and the current billable amount is $62.20.  The fee is outside the basket of services for FHTs and it has come to the program’s attention that optimal billing is not occurring; please ensure that your finance person is aware of the fee code for this visit.

    o       Project Coordinator is Julie Gross, who can be reached at grossj@mcmaster.ca if you require any information or support

    • Chiropractic Collaboration:

    o        The Ontario Chiropractic Association has extended the offer to provide further information on how a tailored model of chiropractic collaboration could fit into your FHT. Click here to see a case study of successful collaboration in Kitchener’s Centre for Family Medicine FHT.

    o        Contact Andrea Endicott at 416-860-7188 or by e-mail at aendicott@chiropractic.on.ca .

  • NP-SERT implementation

    Click here to access AFHTO’s notes on the questions and answers discussed during the two teleconferences on NP-SERT hosted by MOHLTC on March 11, 2011. Click here to to access the Q&A document e-mailed by MOHLTC on February 1, 2011.

  • Progressive Discipline

    Do you have concerns about an employee’s performance? As an employer you may need to deal with problems caused by the performance of an employee but you must address this through progressive discipline.  Learn more about the steps of progressive discipline from Maria McDonald, Employment Lawyer at Dykeman, Dewhirst and O’Brien – click here.

  • Investigations in the Workplace

    Workplace investigations may take many forms and may take place for many reasons – it can be everything from an incident or complaint of harassment, bullying, sexual harassment or discrimination.  Do you know how to do a thorough investigation in order to protect yourself and your workplace.  Learn more about how to conduct an investigation from Maria McDonald, Employment Lawyer at Dykeman, Dewhirst and O’Brien – click here.

  • AFHTO Strategic Plan 2011-13 and FHT Survey Results

    This strategic plan charts the next steps in the journey to establish FHTs as a highly-valuable and valued model for delivering primary health care to Ontarians, and to develop the capacity for its representative body, AFHTO, to be their strong and effective voice. A draft plan, built upon the consensus achieved among 150 FHT leaders in November 2009, was sent out to all FHT leaders for consultation at the end of January.  On February 9, 2011, about 70 FHT leaders joined a web meeting to learn more about the plan and give initial feedback.  This was followed up with a survey sent to all FHT leaders to invite further feedback, and 127 responded. Survey respondents were unanimous in their agreement with the vision, mission, principles and values proposed in the draft strategic plan.  The strategic directions and initiatives reflect the priorities indicated by the survey respondents. The speed and strength with which this plan can be implemented fully depends upon the support of FHTs. To access the AFHTO Strategic Plan 2011-13, click here. Survey results  are posted on AFHTO’s members-only website. Log in with your FHT’s username and password, then click here to access the survey results.

  • Termination of Employment

    Termination of employment is one of the most common stresses for employers – do you know the difference of termination ‘with cause’ and ‘without clause’?  Learn more about the steps to take when you terminate an employee from Maria McDonald, Employment Lawyer at Dykeman, Dewhirst and O’Brien – click here.