This email was sent to executive directors/admin leads, board chairs, and lead clinicians
Hello triad members,
As there isn’t a scheduled leadership council meeting before the end of the year – and the follow-up communique that comes with it – we’d like to provide a summary for you of some work that’s underway at AFHTO.
Compensation Market Review Update
As you may recall, the Community Health Compensation Working Group (CWG) invited consultants to submit a proposal for a community health market salary review for Ontario. Consensus has been reached on the preferred candidate for this role, and we’re in the final stages of securing the contract. We have received contributions from all ten members of the CWG and anticipate this project to be completed within the next few months.
This project will allow us to have greater insight into wage disparities for 78 positions across the primary and community care sectors. The final report will serve as an important tool to support discussions with government on reasonable, fair compensation. Stay tuned for further updates.
Mental Health and Addiction Funding Update
The Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos, federal health minister, is meeting with the provincial and territorial health ministers in Vancouver in mid-November. One topic of discussion is the mental health funding transfer. The provinces say that health cost share is currently 78% provincial and 22% federal, and they are jointly advocating for more from the federal government, including targeted funding for mental health and addiction. Duclos has said that the government is currently negotiating $3B in transfer for MHA with provinces and territories. We hope to have an update following their November meeting, with the hope that some of the funding is embedded sustainably in primary care.
As we noted in our September 27th communique, the Ontario Ministry of Health is providing one-time funding to support teams with innovations in improving mental health and addiction challenges within the communities served. We know that the timing for the funding isn’t ideal or sustainable and that teams will likely have a short amount of time to utilize it. But to support knowledge sharing and to build a business case around sustainable funding, AFHTO will reach out to EDs in mid-November to glean plans underway and share ideas and strategies across regions. If you would like to share your ideas now, please email Abisola at abisola.otepola@afhto.ca.
Progress Towards Development of Primary Care Networks
AFHTO continues to work with other associations and providers about ensuring that a strong primary care sector is the foundation of an integrated system. For this to happen, primary care needs to be organized. Primary care networks (PCNs) are an opportunity to strengthen the sector and see improved health outcomes.
AFHTO and partners developed a concept paper blueprint with recommendations for the establishment of PCNs within the Ontario Health Teams based on best practices and lessons learned from other jurisdictions. This was submitted to the ministry in mid October for consideration, and discussion is now underway. If there is agreement that this is something that the ministry (and possibly Ontario Health) wants to pursue, there will be consultations with stakeholders and our collective members to refine the recommendations in the coming months. We will keep members apprised of this work as it continues.
Status of FHT/MOH Contract Recommendations
After over a year of consultations with members and stakeholders, AFHTO is in the process of submitting the final recommendations for the next FHT contract to the ministry. Along with our consultant, Dale McMurchy, we met with ministry officials on October 19th where we outlined the recommendations focused on the three key areas: governance, accountability/performance, and FHT/physician affiliations with recommended MOUs.
As the current contract expires on March 31, 2023, we look forward to working with MOH on this in the next few months and will consult further as needed. MOH will make the final decision, and we will keep members apprised of this work. Thank you to all the working group members who contributed to the development of the recommendations and for providing insights.
Mandatory Vaccine Policies
Maria McDonald, McDonald HR Law, has provided more thoughts for employers on mandatory vaccine policies in the workplace. Members can see her comments here.
Reminder: Governance Training with Charity Village
We’d like to remind teams that AFHTO has undertaken a partnership with Charity Village to offer three different governance training programs that align with the expectations in teams’ governance attestation. Over 20 teams have already participated!
We encourage teams check out these programs if they feel they might benefit. Any questions can be directed to Bryn Hamilton.
Improving Communication with and Between IHPs
IHPs may have seen the QR code that was set up around the conference to sign up for IHP communication. This is where IHPs can share their name, profession, and work email to improve AFHTO’s outreach to IHPs, especially for participation in research, in showing the value of the work you do, and upcoming work around compensation advocacy.
It has also been set up as a way for professions to communicate with one another and to create their own communities of practice to network and share best practices.
We encourage all IHPs to provide their work email addresses so we can include you in relevant communications and so you can network with your colleagues across AFHTO’s member teams. If you can please share this information with the IHPs on your team and encourage them to sign up, we would greatly appreciate it.
Finally, it was a pleasure seeing so many of you at the conference last month! The resources and recordings were emailed to attendees on October 19 and the Bright Lights Awards winners are posted. We also saw a great attendance of EDs at the session with Fernando Tavares from the Ministry of Health the day before the conference. If anyone was unable to attend and would like to listen to the recording, you can find it here.
Enjoy the rest of the fall, and if you have any questions or comments, please contact us any time at info@afhto.ca.
Yours in good health,
AFHTO
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