Member News: Updates on Medical Assistance in Dying, clinical guidelines, tools and more

Updates Relevant to Primary Care

• Ontario and the Ontario Medical Association reach tentative agreement: four-year agreement contains limited annual increases to the Physician Services Budget.

• Health Links 2015-16 Q4 progress report: released by Health Quality Ontario (HQO), see Health Links reports and resources for more.

• Applications now open for Rotman School of Management’s 2017 Advanced Health Leadership Program: significant scholarships expected for all Ontario-based participants from health service providers (scholarships to be confirmed Fall 2016). Deadline to apply October 24, 2016.

• Updates on Patients First and FHT contracts from AFHTO board meeting with Ministry.

• Patients’ experiences receiving home-based primary care: recently published study showing its effectiveness.

• Medical Assistance in Dying:  Bill C-14 on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) has passed the Senate vote and received royal assent. Ontario is now working with federal counterparts and relevant regulatory colleges on its implementation plan. For more information, watch this presentation from the Ministry. For general inquiries, email endoflifedecisions@ontario.ca.

Send your Input to Help Develop Policy and Resources

• Health Promotion Resource Centre (HPRC) Survey: The Ministry is assessing the impact of the work of HPRCs and looking for your feedback.

• Child and youth mental health: primary care feedback sought for policy-ready paper by the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health.

• Health technology assessments: HQO wants to know which services, medical devices or tests they should review.

• Family caregiver engagement activities: The Change Foundation wants to know how you’re engaging with patients and their families on an ongoing basis.

• Intercommunity transportation: Send your feedback on how to improve public transportation. May be of particular interest to rural and remote teams.

• Reminder to complete survey: How Primary Care Practice Attributes Can Support Performance. Information from this study may inform future investments in primary care.

New and Updated Clinical Guidelines

• CORE Neck Tool & Headache Navigator: developed as part of the Knowledge Translation in Primary Care Initiative.

• Clinical Guidance for Colposcopy Services: released by the Ontario Cervical Screening Program.

• Retinal Prosthesis System for Advanced Retinitis Pigmentosa
• Ultrasound as an Adjunct to Mammography for Breast Cancer Screening

Resources for Patients

• Experiencing Aging Video: watch Kavita Mehta, ED of South East Toronto FHT, don an Aging Suit to better understand seniors’ challenges in a primary care setting, courtesy of The Change Foundation.

• OMama Project: maternal-newborn care pilot project by the Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN), recently launched website and mobile app offering information for patients, including a poster for clinics.

Other AFHTO News

• Standardised EMR queries: Latest D2D eBulletin posted with help to extract data from your EMRs.

• AFHTO 2016 Conference registration now live: if you’d like to register and haven’t received your member access code, please contact your administrator.

• Over 60 Bright Lights Awards nominations received: Thank you to everyone who submitted! If you have not received a confirmation email, contact conference@afhto.ca.