Fernando Tavares, Program Manager, Primary Health Care Branch, OHIP, Pharmaceuticals and Devices Division, MOH joined the AFHTO Leadership Council on February 17. Below are highlights from that meeting and updates on work that is underway.
Q & A with Fernando Tavares
Fernando Tavares joined the Leadership Council meeting for an hour-long Q&A session to discuss various topics, including provincial factors that are shaping and influencing the direction of team-based care in Ontario. Questions focused on the shift to a population-based approach to care, the future state of OHTs, relations between MOH and OH, HHR challenges, and organizing primary care. You can access the recording here.
We are also pleased to announce that Fernando will join us for another Q&A session to provide a brief update on the Annual Operating Plan (submission timelines + process), discuss further details on the FHT contract extension including updates to the Governance & Attestation document, and review details of the “Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care” investment of $30 million to help bridge the gap in accessing interprofessional primary care. All EDs are invited to attend the session on March 28th @ 12:00pm. Click here to register.
Preliminary Survey to Capture MHA Funding Impact
Further to our memo released on January 30th,the IPHCC has developed a preliminary survey to assess the progress and utilization of the MHA funding. Recognizing that teams have until March 31st to spend these funds, the intent of this survey is to capture the work you have underway and identify areas where we can provide further guidance, if necessary. The survey should take 5-7 minutes to complete. Please note this is not a replacement for the fulsome evaluation that the IHPCC will send to you in April. Read the full message here.
Please complete the survey here before March 10. Your participation is greatly appreciated and will help to inform the feedback provided to the Ministry as well as the final survey you will receive in April. If you can’t access the link or have questions about the survey, please contact Abisola at abisola.otepola@afhto.ca.
Market Salary Review & Compensation Working Group
In 2022, multiple associations and organizations came together as the Community Compensation Working Group to jointly support a market survey in order to get a better idea of the wage disparity and compensation challenges across interprofessional primary care, community support services, community mental health and long-term care. The market salary review will be conducted for 78 positions across the primary and community care sectors. The Working Group has since partnered with Eckler Ltd. to begin this work with an estimated completion by end of spring 2023. Once complete, recommendations will be presented to the government and funders on reasonable, fair, and equitable compensation across the healthcare sector. Our goal is to demonstrate the significant pay gap and wage inequities across the community sector and to compel government to pay healthcare providers and staff the compensation they deserve.
To ensure a successful market study with a substantive sample, Executive Directors are being asked to complete a survey that will accompany the market review. Surveys are targeted to be launched in late February 2023. If you have questions about this market study, please feel free to contact, Abisola Otepola at abisola.otepola@afhto.ca.
IHP roles and responsibilities
IHP members requested updated information on roles and responsibilities of IHPs to aid in the coordination and management of their respective teams. AFHTO is currently validating information that had been provided and is planning to release the information over the coming months. Following the release of the guidance document, plans are in place to host a webinar series with a focus on individual IHP disciplines/roles. The goal is to have generative discussion around individual roles and responsibilities, challenges, and key enablers using the guidance document as the starting point. This work will be done in partnership with associations and key stakeholders. Preliminary timelines for this will be summer 2023.
A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care – what we know to date
On Feb 2nd 2023, Health Minister Sylvia Jones launched Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, a plan that sets the vision and direction for Ontario’s health system strategy for the next few years. We were thrilled to see an investment of $30 million to expand or create new teams and help bridge the gap in accessing interprofessional primary care for vulnerable, marginalized, and unattached patients to ensure they can connect to care where and when they need it.
AFHTO has been advocating for years around expansion of team-based care and it’s great to see the first large investment to expand teams in the province in a number of years. The details of what the implementation will look like (new teams or expansion of already existing teams) is still being worked through and we hope to provide you with more information as we continue to dialogue with the Ministry and Ontario Health. To read more about the Your Health plan please click here.
PCN Primer
Within the Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care we were also pleased to see the commitment to help support organizing primary care by:
Creating a connected health care system through Ontario Health Teams by supporting collaboration and engagement with primary care providers across the province through the creation of primary care networks. Every Ontario Health Team will include a group of primary care providers organized in a network to be part of decision-making and to improve access to care for patients.
To support the notion of primary organization, AFHTO along with our SGFP and OCFP partners have developed a concept discussion paper for the Ministry that outlines preliminary recommendations for the establishment of Primary Care Networks (or PCNs) in Ontario. A two-page primer summarizing the key concepts of PCNs can be seen here. We look forward to further consultations with our members and stakeholders over the coming months to refine the draft recommendations presented.
$8.1M Funding Announcement for Expansion of Teams
The provincial government is providing $8.1 million in new annualized base funding to enhance access to primary care in key regions of the province. “This funding will support various interprofessional primary care organizations, including 18 Family Health Teams (FHTs), 2 Community Health Centres (CHCs) and 2 Nurse Practitioner Led-Clinics (NPLCs), to continue the delivery of high-quality care that Ontarians know and deserve.” If your team is receiving new base funding and you’re able to share details, please contact us so we can share.
2023 Pre-Budget Submissions
On February 6, 2023 AFHTO submitted our recommendations to the government for their 2023 budget. Our recommendations are broken into four sections:
- Make team-based primary care available to more Ontarians through an investment of an additional $75 million pre year for 10 years (recommendation provided in partnership with the Primary Care Collaborative)
- Address the health human resource (HHR) crisis in primary care through the creation of a primary care HHR table (recommendation provided in partnership with the Primary Care Collaborative)
- Provide mental health and additions services and home and community care in coordination with primary care
- Provide resources to support the implementation of primary care networks (PCNs) and recognize PCNs as the organizing model for primary care.
AFHTO has begun to set up meetings with government bodies to present our recommendations and hopes to begin meeting with officials very soon. Members are encouraged to present the pre-budget submission to their own MPPs if given an opportunity to meet. Please let us know if we can help in your local advocacy efforts!
AFHTO Conference
Mark your calendars for October 25, 2023, with pre-conference sessions beginning on October 24th. Now’s the time to start thinking about your submissions for Bright Lights! Stay tuned for more details over the coming weeks.
Introducing our new benefit- discount on CPS Full Access
While you may open our emails because you know you’re getting the latest and most relevant updates, you might have forgotten about other benefits available to you. Here are some which can facilitate not just your work, but that of staff, clinicians, and board members as well, or simply make life a little easier, including a 40% discount on CPS Full Access.
As we move into the spring, we continue to thank you for the great work you all do. If there are ways we can support you, please let us know.
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