Ultimate Blogging Championship

Author: sitesuper

  • Introducing the indicators for D2D 2.0 / help in hiring summer students to clean data

    The vote is in!

    The indicators for D2D 2.0 have now been selected according to input from the members. There are still only about a dozen indicators along with a few more “explanatory” measures to help teams better identify peer groups to compare to. Please see the list below to start the conversation with your team about which measures (if any) you want to contribute data for. D2D 2.0 is AFHTO’s second membership-wide report on performance in primary care. It helps local teams see where they stack up against their peers on a small number of measures. For teams that are just getting started on their QI journey, it can help set a focus and a goal. No matter where your team is with getting or using data for improvement, D2D is a tool that makes it easier for us all to advocate for what it takes to keep doing the kind of primary care we believe in. For example, D2D 1.0 showed that patients of at least 30% of AFHTO members had better access to care than patients in other primary care models. They had better experiences on several other measures as well. Imagine how powerful that message will be when D2D 2.0 includes data from 100% of AFHTO members! The recent article in The Globe and Mail is a good reminder of how important it is for AFHTO members to be able to share this message with the wider community. There are several steps between selecting the indicators, releasing of D2D 2.0 and eventually using it to help your team advance. The QIDSS (and many others) are working hard to make the process easier and more meaningful. An example is a toolkit to help members recruit and use summer students to clean their EMR data. The toolkit is based on the work of teams who have already had great success in using summer students to make it easier to put good data into the EMR and get good data out, engaging physicians with the potential for increased revenue along the way! Contact Catherine Macdonald for more information on hiring a summer student. And for more details and instructions for contributing data to D2D 2.0, watch for updates to the ebulletin coming to you every other Thursday afternoon. If you have any questions or comments that come up as you discuss with your teams, please drop Carol Mulder a line. And, as noted above, watch the ebulletin for updates on how your team can contribute to D2D 2.0.

    Performance Indicators

    • colorectal screening
    • cervical screening
    • patient involved in decisions
    • readmissions
    • Cost
    • childhood immunizations
    • Same/next day appointment
    • Reasonable wait for appointment
    • regular care provider
    • Courtesy of office staff
    • A diabetes outcome measure such as % of diabetics with appropriate levels of HbA1C (definition being finalized in consultation with QIDSS)
    • FTE of doctors and NP (definition being finalized in consultation with QIDSS)

    Explanatory Indicators:

    These indicators are intended to help teams identify peers for the purposes of meaningful comparisons between teams

    • rural/urban
    • Number of patients served by team
    • access to hospital data
    • teaching status
    • data quality measure

    Developmental Indicator

    • follow-up after hospitalization: teams will be invited to submit data generated by and, more importantly, descriptions of their approach to monitoring follow-up after hospitalization, with the intent of informing the eventual development of consensus on a meaningful and manageable approach to measuring this concept in a consistent way across AFHTO membership

    For more in-depth information about these indicators, click here.

  • “Health Care in a Time of Austerity” on TVO’s The Agenda

    Feb. 25 – On The Agenda with Steve Paikin, Claudia Mariano, Nurse Practitioner at West Durham FHT and AFHTO Board Member, appeared on the show to discuss the need for increased support for recruitment & retention in primary care. The program, “Health Care in a Time of Austerity” focused on primary care reform in a time of fiscal restraint.  Panelists discussed OMA negotiations and the government’s intentions towards team-based primary care. Panelists included:

    • Claudia Mariano, Nurse Practitioner, West Durham FHT & AFHTO Board Member
    • Dr. Rick Glazier, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
    • Adrianna Tetley, Executive Director of the Association of Ontario Health Centres
    • Dr. Ved Tandan, OMA President

    A recording of the show is posted on The Agenda’s website.

  • Hire a Student Toolkit – Planning and Funding

    Decide that you want to clean up your historical data

    a)       Why should you do this? What’s Important to YOUR Practice? Some examples are:

    • The incentive bonus programs for physicians provide financial rewards for better coded data and may provide some funding for this exercise.  (eg Auditing of Medications, preparation of care reports)
    • Teams are better able to identify candidates for chronic disease management programs
    • Patients with Chronic Diseases can be tracked to ensure they are getting the kind of follow-up they need
    • It will be easier for your practice to do QIP reporting and participate in D2D, adding your voice to strengthen your associations ability to advocate for what you need

    b)       Funding Sources for Hiring a Student i.   Estimate how much bonus your physicians are currently foregoing, based on the current data quality, and therefore how much money is likely to be returned with improvements in data quality via the student.   See table to be completed by the team for each doctor, as a tool to estimate the potential value of the data cleaning project.

    • Assume, or estimate the number of patients based on the prevalence of the various conditions in the practice.
    • Assume, or estimate the actual bonus received by each doctor from the average amount received in previous years or by others in the team, if actual amounts not available directly
    • Consider that the very high end maximum cost of a summer student is about $20,000, with a more reasonable cost being $12-15,000.   See Appendix A for a table on calculating the potential bonus.

    Check with your physicians to see how much money they are willing to spend for a student placement, given the above calculations. ii.  If necessary, consider how much money your team can afford to pay (vacancy or one-time money that can be spent now and/or accrued to the next year).  For example, a 4 month vacancy for any clinician in the previous year would likely generate enough vacancy money to pay for the summer student, assuming the vacancy monies were not already allocated elsewhere.  Note: teams may need to request permission from MOHLTC representatives to reallocate vacancy money to this project, but the MOHLTC has assured AFHTO that they would be supportive of such requests.  Teams who qualify for ARI may be able to reallocate these resources without specific permission from MOHLTC.  Please contact Bryn Hamilton or a/your/the MOHLTC representative for more information about ARI. iii.  Regardless of who pays, ensure your physician(s) are supportive of this work.  See Appendix B for a sample draft note for physicians to sign. iv.  Provincial or Federal Government incentives may provide some funding to assist in hiring a student.  Some of these options are dependent on the type of student involved.

    • Northern Ontario Internship Program
    • Youth Employment Fund
    • Canada Summer Jobs
    • Employment Ontario — $2 per hour summer incentive
    • Co-Operative Education Tax Credit
    • Abilities Connect Fund

    c)       Consider the different types of students potentially available  There are numerous programs in the province offering different types of students, each with different funding models and placement duration for the students participating in the placement.  Some programs have their students participate in a placement specifically as part of their education and have rules in that they cannot receive wages as part of the placement.  Whereas others do require the student to be compensated. Even though you can use students from almost any education institution in the province this toolkit uses the following institutions:

    • Health records student placement (CHIMA accredited institutions across Ontario)
    • McMaster eHealth Masters student placement
    • Any summer student (see government programs for hiring students)

     

  • Governance Education Webinar #2: The Board’s Responsibilities

    Session 2: The Board’s Responsibilities

    • Monday, February 23 from 12:15 – 1:45pm &
    • Friday, February 27 from 8:00 – 9:30am

    Learning Objectives Understanding the Board’s role and responsibilities Topics Covered

    • Directors’ obligations (individual & collective)
    • Fiduciary responsibility
    • Governance policies
    • Creating an effective Board
      • Recruitment
      • Orientation & training
      • Board Chair
      • Conflict of interest
      • Code of conduct
      • Oversight and monitoring
        • Finance
        • Human Resources
        • Quality

    Resources

      • Monday, February 23 recording

     

    • Friday, February 27 recording

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #5 – Feb 19, 2015

    Contributing to D2D 2.0

    Indicator selection:  AFHTO board review of the indicators is scheduled for Feb 25th. Watch this space for more news next week! D2D 2.0 data submission and presentation tool: A prototype of the tool for teams to submit data to D2D 2.0 is currently being reviewed by QIDSS in preparation for widespread release later in March. Contact Puja Ahluwalia or Greg Mitchell for more information. D2D video coming soon: Work has begun to produce a series of short videos for teams to share with staff, clinicians and boards to answer questions about D2D (how, why and what it is). Contact Carol Mulder with any ideas for scenarios or topics to be included in the videos.

    Using D2D 1.0 to improve data quality and care

    Improving quality of clinical data in EMRs: Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) hosted the second of five regional sessions this week with QIDSS and the CCO Regional Primary Care Leads. Among topics discussed are strategies to make it easier for QIDSS to support physicians in getting access to their SARs, the extent of similarity between EMR and SAR cancer screening rates and what information and resources are available to QIDSS and AFHTO members from CCO’s primary care leads. There are upcoming sessions scheduled for QIDSS in Sudbury, Toronto and Thunder Bay. Automating patient experience surveys: Proposals for a service to take much of the work out of administering patient experience surveys are now being reviewed. A provider will be chosen in the next few weeks, with a goal to pilot the service in at least 10 teams before March 31, 2015. If your team is interested in participating, please contact Marg Leyland. A more detailed call for participants will be issued shortly. In the meantime, please see the Request For Quotes for more details.

    Other news about manageable meaningful measurement

    HQO practice-level indicator prioritization: HQO is about to launch its consultation process to prioritize the practice-level indicators that were identified as part of the Primary Care Performance Measurement Framework. AFHTO staff are involved in the process, which includes consideration of the D2D process. AFHTO members may also be approached directly for their feedback. For more information, please contact Carol Mulder. AFHTO in the news! Recent articles (here and here) touched on the role of AFHTO members in sustainable primary care. REMINDER! Please sign up for Effective Governance for Quality in Primary Care Workshops: An evidence-based training program for FHTs and NPLCs, delivered by peer leaders from these organizations, will be offered in two workshops this March. The sessions are intended for board members, executive directors and quality improvement leaders in AFHTO’s member organizations. If you would like to attend one of these workshops or for more information, click here. REMINDER! Please complete the EMR migration survey by February 25, 2015: Executive directors, lead physicians, board chairs and QIDSS are all invited to complete the survey. Migrating from one EMR to another is a challenge no team takes lightly. This survey is intended to compile the experiences of AFHTO members so that all can learn from your experiences. We hope this might ease the transitions for teams planning to change EMRs.

    What do you think?

    We hope you find value in the D2D eBulletin and will continue to subscribe to this newsletter. Other members of your team can sign up by clicking here. Once they complete the sign-up form a confirmation e-mail will be sent within 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have any comments or questions about the eBulletin, please let us know by e-mail to improve@afhto.ca. What is D2D? Data to Decisions (D2D) is a member-wide summary of performance on indicators that are both possible for members to measure and that are meaningful to members. See the D2D page on AFHTO’s website for more information.

  • Espanola and Area FHT Home Visit Pilot Improves Seniors’ Quality of Life

    Feb. 19- Espanola and Area FHT’s Care of the Elderly Program is a pilot in which the team’s family physician, Dr. Hama Abdel-Salam pays an average 40 house calls a week to frail elderly patients. This results in better health outcomes for them, and reduced ER visits and lengths of stay at the hospital. This is in line with other programs offered by teams throughout the province (as shown in presentations made at the 2013 Conference under the theme “Improving care for the elderly”.) (Members log in for access) For the full article on the Care of the Elderly program, click here.

  • Akausivik Inuit FHT “a model of patient-centred care”

    Feb. 17 – Nunatsiaq News interviewed Akausivik’s executive director, Connie Siedule on the team’s significance for the Inuit community and its recent independence from the Tungasuvvingat Inuit community health centre. The only Inuit FHT in Ontario, they address the often complex needs of their patients (in Inuktitut if needed or desired), diverting them from emergency care where most Inuit patients would go before they opened. For further details, click here.

  • New resources and opportunities: Ontario budget talks, program funding, OCFP awards and more

    FHTs and NPLCs are invited to take advantage of the following opportunities, some of which are time-sensitive. Click on each link below for more information:

      • Ontario Budget Talks portal: ask the government to address recruitment and retention
      • Seniors Community Grant funding – Application deadline March 27, 2015
      • Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) for Integrated Funding Models – Deadline March 18, 2015
      • Nominations for OCFP Awards now open – Deadline April 10, 2015
      • Free workshops on medication reconciliation with transitions of care – March 2, 4 and 11, 2015
      • Hiring and screening resources for including physiotherapy in your team
      • Information to share with Patients: Ontario Health Study & MyCancerIQ
        • Ontario Health Study – patients invited to participate in study
        • MyCancerIQ: Cancer risk assessment tool from Cancer Care Ontario
      • Opportunities to provide input on prenatal resources and best practices in primary care
        • Invitation to provide feedback on The Best Start Resource Centre prenatal education resources for primary care in Ontario
        • Research study on gestational weight gain by the University of Alberta

    Ontario Budget Talks 2015: ask the government to address recruitment and retention in their budget plans

    While AFHTO has consistently brought the need for sufficient funding for recruitment and retention to the government’s attention, AFHTO members have also been active in meeting with their MPPs to discuss this issue. Now there’s another opportunity to raise awareness. The Ontario government has recently opened Budget Talks 2015, an online portal for Ontarians to offer feedback to the government on 2015/16 budget planning. In keeping with the work already begun, you can visit Budget Talks 2015 to lend your voice to the call to support recruitment and retention in primary care teams. For resources to assist you, click here (log in to the Members Only section first.)

    Seniors Community Grant funding – Application deadline March 27, 2015

    Ontario is accepting applications for the Seniors Community Grant Program until March 27, 2015.  According to the submission guidelines, eligible applicants “must represent seniors groups or offer programs or services which directly benefit seniors living in Ontario.” In the case of AFHTO members, this may include programs offered promoting seniors’ health, fall prevention, etc. Update: On page 11 of the guidelines it states ineligible organizations include those whose “primary source of annual base funding is from the province of Ontario”. We believed all FHTs and NPLCs were eligible based on the cover/introductory information we received which stated eligible applicants “must represent seniors groups or offer programs or services which directly benefit seniors living in Ontario.” If you are concerned your program will not be eligible please contact the Seniors Community Grant Program, seniorscommunitygrant@ontario.ca or 1-844-SCG-2015 (1-844-724-2015). You may also consider partnering with another community organization for your program proposal as well (if it is appropriate for the proposal you are putting forward).

    Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) for Integrated Funding Models- deadline March 18, 2015

    The Ministry recently issued an Expression of Interest (EOI)  for models that will test innovative approaches to integrate funding over a patient’s episode of care, regardless of who is providing the care, or the location where care is provided. Click here for a recording of the ministry’s information session on Integrated Funding Models (1hr 11min).

    Nominations for Ontario College of Family Physicians awards now open – Deadline April 10, 2015

    AFHTO members were well represented at the 2014 President’s Installation and Awards Ceremony. Take the opportunity to acknowledge the great work being done by interprofessional primary care teams by nominating your team, physician colleague (or even yourself) for an OCFP award. Categories include Regional Family Physician of the Year, Family Practice of the Year and Awards of Excellence. Click here to nominate a team or colleague before April 10, 2015.

    Free workshops on medication reconciliation with transitions of care – March 2, 4 and 11, 2015

    “Facilitating Medication Reconciliation in the Community: Interactive sessions for community healthcare providers in Ontario” The Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (with support from Health Quality Ontario) is offering two in-person workshops and an interactive webinar to support community health care providers with medication reconciliation. These sessions will help teams improve the communication of medication information and help teams provide safe transitions for their patients. Workshops will take place on:

    • Monday, March 2, 2015: Thunder Bay Regional Health Centre, 4:30-8:30 pm
    • Wednesday, March 4, 2015: Windsor Regional Hospital, 4:30-8:30 pm
    • Wednesday, March 11, 2015: Interactive Webinar, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm ET

    For further details and registration, click here.

    Hiring and screening resources for including physiotherapy in your team

    The Ontario Physiotherapy Association has tools and resources available to support primary care organizations hire, screen and integrate physiotherapy services to their team. You may also contact them with any questions that may arise in implementing these positions. For further information, click here (log in to the Members Only section first.)

    Information to share with Patients: MyCancerIQ & Ontario Health Study

    ·  Ontario Health Study – patients invited to participate in study The Ontario Health Study will be sending out a call to all Ontarians between the ages of 35 and 69 to participate in the provincial study by providing a blood sample and/or filling out a questionnaire. Primary care providers are asked to share information about the study with patients and facilitate participation if appropriate. To learn more about the study and how you can help, click here. Feel free to also contact Dr. Mark Purdue, the study’s Executive Scientific Director, at mark.purdue@ontariohealthstudy.ca if you have any questions. · MyCancerIQ: Cancer risk assessment tool from Cancer Care Ontario My CancerIQ is available for your patients’ use. The online tool allows them to find out their risk for breast, cervical, colorectal and lung cancer. Users can determine their risk of developing one of these four cancers. Primary care providers are asked to share this information with patients. For more information, go to MyCancerIQ.ca.

    Opportunities to provide input on prenatal resources and best practices in primary care

    · Evaluation of prenatal resources available to primary care in Ontario The Best Start Resource Centre is gathering feedback from service providers in Ontario to evaluate resources about prenatal education in Ontario. The survey is focused on the Prenatal Education Report and Prenatal Education Fact Sheets and how they have been used in practice. To participate in the survey, click here. · Research study on gestational weight gain by the University of Alberta Do you provide care to pregnant women?  The University of Alberta wants to better understand the barriers and challenges health care providers may experience related to gestational weight gain, and about what may help and support them to help women achieve healthy weights during pregnancy. For more information, click here. To participate in the survey, click here.

  • Governance Education Webinar #1: Getting Started

    Session 1:  Getting Started

    • Wednesday, February 18 from 12:15 – 1:45pm &
    • Friday, February 20 from 8:00 – 9:30 am

    Learning Objectives What the Ministry expects from FHTs and NPLCs and why Understanding the basics of good governance Topics Covered

    • The Ministry’s Accountability Reform Initiative (ARI) – what is it and why is it important?
    • What is “governance and compliance attestation”?
    • Effective Board structures (e.g. Committees)
    • Effective meetings and process (Board meetings; Annual meetings)
    • Bylaws
    • Roles and responsibilities, job descriptions
    • Managing important relationships
          • MOHLTC, FHT, FHO
          • Board Chair & Executive Director

    Resources

     

      • Friday, February 20 recording

         

  • Barrie and Community FHT going forward with MVP Clinic

    Feb. 17 – Provincial funding for Barrie and Community FHT’s pilot project, Most Valuable Player (MVP) Clinic was announced last Thursday. The clinic gives priority to unattached medically complex patients. Each patient (the MVP) is supported through a process that provides an example for interprofessional collaboration. Click here for the Barrie Examiner article. Click here for the AFHTO 2014 Conference presentation (accessible to members after login).