Ultimate Blogging Championship

Author: sitesuper

  • FYI – primary care staff planning rally at Queen’s Park on March 3rd

    To Executive Directors and Admin. Leads:

    AFHTO is sending this email to ensure you are aware that some of your staff may be planning to attend a rally at Queen’s Park on March 3rd. Word is spreading to staff across the province through their various networks. This could affect your FHT/NPLC so you may need to take steps to address patient care on that day.

    It is no surprise to learn that staff are joining together to organize this rally to make their case directly to politicians. No doubt you’ve been directly experiencing staff frustration and turnover, and see it escalating rapidly. You likely share this frustration yourself, as you watch the inequity continue to grow in compensation for staff working in AHACs, CHCs, FHTs and NPLCs compared to other health sectors.

    AFHTO, together with our colleagues in AOHC and NPAO, continue to meet with ministry staff and political leaders to keep them focused on finding sufficient funding to retain staff in primary care. The gap is becoming particularly acute as the ministry’s Patients First proposal requires a strong foundation of primary care to succeed. There is always the possibility for some good news in 2016-17, but that’s all it is – a possibility.

    In the meantime, thank you to so many members who continue to write letters, meet with MPPs and raise awareness of the negative impact this funding gap is having on the province’s ability to deliver comprehensive team-based primary care to keep Ontarians as healthy as possible.

    Angie Heydon
    CEO, AFHTO

  • New privacy tools available for AFHTO members

    As you know, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC/O) has provided further guidance as to their expectations for Health Information Custodians, specifically with respect to physician practices and Family Health Teams. To assist our members in understanding and meeting the new privacy criteria, we have partnered with DDO Law to provide our members with FREE Privacy Training & Tools. On January 27 and February 3, 2016, nearly 150 EDs and Board Chairs of AFHTO member teams attended privacy training webinars. The webinars were recorded and have been posted on AFHTO’s Members Only website for those who wish to review and share them.

    A compilation of privacy tools is available on the AFHTO website. New resources have been posted to answer your privacy questions and guide you in updating your privacy policies:

    For more information, please contact Bryn Hamilton, Provincial Lead for Governance & Leadership at AFHTO.

  • Save the date: Member input to develop AFHTO’s position on accountability to LHIN vs MOHLTC – Feb. 19 or 23

    To EDs, Board Chairs and Lead MD/NPs of AFHTO member organizations:

    FHT and NPLC leaders identified “Accountability and contractual relationships” as the top priority topic for AFHTO’s response to the Ministry’s Patients First proposal. This was revealed through the 14 web meetings held with you, the leaders of AFHTO member organizations in each LHIN region.

    To date, members have had divergent opinions on this issue so AFHTO has not taken a position on this question. But members also want to lead – can we find where there is consensus to enable the membership to speak with one voice?

    With this in mind, a draft discussion paper for AFHTO members was released on Tuesday, Feb. 16. We’d like you to review and respond through an online survey and/or one of two webinars. All input received will be reviewed and considered by the AFHTO board to finalize a position at their meeting on March 2nd.

    To attend one of the webinars, please register and pick the session that fits your schedule. Webinars will be held on:

    • Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, 12 noon – 1:15 p.m. EST
    • Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST

    We look forward to hearing from you and if you have any questions or concerns, please send an e-mail to saleemeh@afhto.ca.

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #28: Are you a high-performing team?

    ONLY THREE MORE DAYS to complete the QI capacity survey. Help answer the question: “what does it take to be a really high performing team?” You can also see the valuable information generated by previous versions of the survey. Check out the launch of D2D 3.0 and review the overall results from you and your peers. Here are some ideas to help get you started with using D2D to improve – including a video for your team/board presentations.  d2d interactive report-2016-02-04

    Help spread the word about D2D – invite others to sign up for the e-Bulletin online.  Getting too many emails? Scroll to the bottom of the original email for the unsubscribe link.

  • Privacy Training Webinar for AFHTO Member Board Chairs

    For Privacy’s Sake…

    AFHTO is pleased to share that we have partnered with DDO Law to provide our members with FREE Privacy Training & Tools. The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC/O) has provided further guidance as to their expectations for Health Information Custodians (and specifically with respect to physician practices and Family Health Teams). To assist our members in meeting and understanding the new privacy criteria, we have made available a 1hr Privacy Training Webinar for Board Chairs.

    Other resources from the webinar

    Other privacy resources for AFHTO members

    As a reminder, AFHTO has numerous related privacy resources currently available to members on the website, including:

    A similar webinar has been made available for Executive Directors.

  • D2D 3.0 Launch – Orientation Webinar

    D2D 3.0 Orientation Webinars were held on February 1, 2016

    AFHTO is pleased to announce the launch of D2D 3.0. Thank you to all teams who contributed to the report and are helping to advance manageable, meaningful, measurement in primary care. The purpose of these webinars is to familiarize members with the interactive display of the D2D 3.0 report, including how to access the report, reviewing your team’s data, comparing to different peer groups and key messages emerging from the data. Click here to see the D2D 3.0 interactive report.  

  • Bariatric Surgery #3: Advanced Bariatric Nutrition

    This is the third of a 3-part free webinar series presented in an unique collaboration between the Association of Family Health Teams (AFHTO) + Diabetes, Obesity and Cardiology (DOC) Network + FHT RD Network of Ontario + PHCAG. Jennifer Brown-Vowles, MSc, RD, of The Ottawa Hospital Weight Management Clinic and Bariatric Surgery Program will continue the webinar series with a focus on Advanced Bariatric Nutrition.

    Click here for the webinar slide deck. 

     

  • D2D 3.0: Progress in meaningful measurement for primary care

    Today’s release of Data to Decisions (D2D) 3.0 demonstrates significant progress by family health teams and nurse practitioner-led clinics to advance manageable and meaningful measurement for improved patient care.

    AFHTO members are guided by the Starfield Principles – focusing on the relationship with patients and the primary care team’s ability to deliver the care patients value. Its objective is to optimize quality, access and total health system cost of care for patients. D2D uses indicators from Health Quality Ontario’s Primary Care Performance Measurement Framework, with some modifications guided by input from front line providers.

    AFHTO members have made progress in:

    • Capturing EMR data to measure outcomes: The composite measure of diabetes is the first time a clinical outcome indicator based on EMR data has moved out of academic research into a performance report. It reflects how the entire interprofessional team contributes to care, and not just physician activity based on billing data. This data capture was made possible through standardized queries across multiple EMR platforms, developed by members but now available to any user of these EMRs within or beyond AFHTO.
    • Using EMR data to measure best practice rather than incentive payment: For the first time, percent of eligible children immunized is measured according to Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) guidelines. The results illustrate a difference in definition from that used for physician billing incentives related to Rotavirus immunization which is part of PHAC recommendations but not in the incentive definition.
    • Improving data quality: AFHTO members are measuring and improving the quality of their EMR data as a source of timely information for quality improvement. Measuring can also have a direct and immediate impact on patient care. In the process of measuring their EMR Data Quality for the first time, one team found a systemic issue affecting flow of information from a lab to their EMR. They fixed the problem, improved their ability to detect colorectal cancer, and in their words, “saved lives”!
    • Voluntarily increasing participation in D2D: Nearly two-thirds of AFHTO members submitted their data to D2D 3.0, continuing the growth from D2D 1.0 (27%) and 2.0 (54%). This gives insight into the care of nearly 2 million Ontarians.

    All three Starfield elements are now in place:

    1. Quality is reliably and comprehensively measured through a composite indicator. It reflects the experience of the entire patient, not just isolated body parts. It is calibrated according to what matters most to patients in their relationship with their provider. While refinements continue, it is now possible to compare quality over time and between settings in a more meaningful way than is possible by just examining physician billing data.
    2. Capacity of the entire clinical team is being measured for the first time. Forty-six teams contributed data to measure time spent delivering primary care relative to the number of patients served. This approach considers the contribution of the entire team and provides a mechanism for exploring the impact of patient complexity on the human resources required to deliver high quality care.
    3. Total cost of care is now in its third iteration of D2D. It has been refined in conjunction with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences to help teams explore aspects of costs that might be sensitive to change in primary care delivery. This measure captures more than 85% of the allocatable public spending per person in Ontario; it is adjusted to reflect age, sex, and complexity of patients to allow comparison over time and between primary care settings. This indicator is now identified as a priority by Health Quality Ontario for system measurement.

    AFHTO members are well-equipped to take the next steps to improve quality

    Results from D2D 3.0 suggest that there is solid and growing engagement with measuring performance. This can be leveraged as we turn our attention now to improving. The D2D interactive report allows teams to compare their own data over time and with their peers across the province. Clinical leadership within and among primary care teams is proving to be the key ingredient in getting people to participate in measurement, improve data capture and act on results.

    Measurement continues to become more meaningful: Follow up after hospitalization

    To be added to the next D2D, this indicator will use EMR data to capture all hospitalized patients receiving in-person OR phone contact with ANY clinician within 7 days of discharge from hospital. Unlike the current indicator based on physician billing data, this approach encourages more patient-centered and efficient follow-up (e.g. phone call by pharmacist to address mediation issues rather than forcing a patient to come in to see the doctor).

    Access to hospital discharge data is the crucial pre-requisite for this indicator – and for excellent quality primary care in general. AFHTO continues to encourage members and external partners such as OntarioMD, eHealthOntario and hospitals to expedite implementation of Hospital Report Manager in all regions.

    Ministry and LHINs are encouraged to support spread

    • Cost-effective, high-performing health systems are based on a strong foundation of comprehensive primary care; robust measurement is a key ingredient.
    • D2D provides a way forward. It is grounded in the Primary Care Performance Measurement Framework to ensure consistency and relevance for all Ontarians, and focussed on what is meaningful and manageable for primary care providers. The tools and processes developed by AFHTO are already being adopted beyond its membership.
    • Spread requires support – to further develop clinical leadership and deploy Quality Improvement Decision Support Specialists to enable more teams and other primary care providers participate in measuring and improving quality.

    Click here to see D2D 3.0 aggregate results.

    The Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO) is the advocate, network and resource centre for interprofessional comprehensive primary care teams.

  • Free Privacy Training Webinar for AFHTO Member Executive Directors

    For Privacy’s Sake…

    AFHTO is pleased to share that we have partnered with DDO Law to provide our members with FREE Privacy Training & Tools. The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC/O) has provided further guidance as to their expectations for Health Information Custodians (and specifically with respect to physician practices and Family Health Teams). To assist our members in meeting and understanding the new privacy criteria, we have made available a 1hr Privacy Training Webinar for Executive Directors. https://youtu.be/VeTNYZ66qXE

    Resources from this webinar

    Other privacy resources for AFHTO members

    As a reminder, AFHTO has numerous related privacy resources currently available to members on the website, including:

    A similar webinar has been made available for Board Chairs.

  • Op-ed: Family Health Team poised to play larger role in primary care

    Guelph Mercury article published on January 27, 2016. Article in full pasted below. Ross Kirckconnell, Guelph Mercury A discussion paper released in December by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care proposes a significant overhaul of the primary care model to deliver “more effective integration of services and greater equity … timely access to primary care, and seamless links between primary care and other services.” The report proposes that each of the province’s 14 Local Health Integration Networks “bring the planning and monitoring of primary care closer to the communities where services are delivered.” This is an important community conversation that is overdue. The Guelph Family Health Team supports an improved model for providing primary care that better serves the health and lifestyle of patients while promoting efficiencies and savings across the system. We should be looking to the organizations that are already successful at doing more or less what the ministry has proposed. Our peers at the Guelph Community Health Centre are a solid example — they have been working on collaborative approaches to community health care for many years. Guelph FHT is another example. We are a non-profit corporation that brings family doctors and registered nurses together with other health-care specialists such as nurse practitioners, pharmacists, dietitians, mental-health counsellors and community agencies for a “wraparound” care team approach to patient wellness. Serving Guelph for 10 years, our work has included leading collaborative, community-led and team-based health-care solutions. The Guelph FHT is already attracting provincial attention as a best-practice model for collaborative and proactive primary care. Currently, the majority of family physicians and about 85 per cent of patients in Guelph participate in the Guelph FHT model. Guelph FHT is a logical choice to assume greater responsibility for co-ordinating primary care in our community. FHTs are well established in Canada, and especially in Guelph, where we are seen as a best-practice model with a proven track record of meeting community objectives. We are in a strong position to continue a leadership role in delivering the best health care to everyone in Guelph. The traditional approach of going to the doctor or emergency department when you need medical attention is evolving to that of a care team that offers patients medical and wellness support for every need in every stage of life, with the goal of keeping patients healthy so they are sick less often. In the FHT model, doctors are the quarterbacks of a full team they regularly interact with, rather than a sole practitioner providing medical care or referrals to external medical specialists or community supports. Guelph FHT patients can also access after-hours clinics and specialized programs such as Diabetes Care Guelph and Health Link, a program run in collaboration with more than a dozen community agencies to identify high-risk patients and create a care plan to address their specific needs in a proactive, personalized manner. The Guelph Health Link initiative, recently recognized as best-in-class with a provincial award from the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, is designed to improve complex and vulnerable patients’ well-being while reducing their impact on the health-care system. The effort is leading to faster response time for patients, who may not need to visit their doctor but can be helped by a Nurse Practitioner or other specialists such as a mental-health counsellor. In need of advice from a registered dietitian? There’s someone down the hall. Looking to ensure your pharmacist has a full understanding of your medical situation? No problem — they’re part of the team, too. Interested in some free workshops to learn how to improve your well-being? The Guelph FHT runs several. In addition to faster and more comprehensive access, the FHT model is demonstrating improved efficiencies across the system, and a proactive approach to patient care that is resulting in healthier people who are getting the right care at the right time, visiting the hospital emergency department less, and overall reduce the strain on a burdened health-care system. Careful and thoughtful planning, and significant stakeholder engagement, will be necessary before moving forward, it would be relatively easy to leverage the same person-centred approach to delivering a wider array of health-care services to the entire community. We look forward to participating, to delivering on a strong community imperative to do this right, and to the best possible primary care in Guelph. Ross Kirkconnell is the executive director of the Guelph Family Health Team. Click here to access the article on the Guelph Mercury website.