Ultimate Blogging Championship

Author: sitesuper

  • Program planning and reporting

    In an effort of continuous quality improvement, AFHTO has established a joint Work Group with MOHLTC Primary Health Care Branch to:

    1. Support FHTs/NPLCS in their program planning and evaluation processes,
    2. Promote the delivery of high quality programs based on population needs, and
    3. Enhance program reporting practices.

    The joint FHT/Ministry work group has been working collaboratively with QIDS Specialists to develop:

    • Program Planning & Evaluation Framework to promote population-based planning and support the delivery of effective programs
    • Indicator Catalogue to help teams in their indicator selection process (will include most common programs FHTs/NPLCs report on, along with program objectives linked to performance measures that are based on best practice clinical guidelines)
    • Additional recommendations to improve the Schedule A template for reporting program plans.

    Coming Soon….The Framework, Catalogue and Schedule A will be made available and an overview provided via webinar in early February. The top 15 priority programs reported by FHTs/NPLCs across the province have been identified (see list below).

    Top 15 program priorities:

    1. Mental Health
    2. Diabetes
    3. Smoking Cessation
    4. COPD and Respiratory Illness
    5. Seniors Health
    6. Hypertension
    7. Preventive/Cancer Screening
    8. Nutrition
    9. Immunizations
    10. Cardiac/Heart health
    11. Memory/Cognitive
    12. Chiropody
    13. Well Baby
    14. Medications/Pharmacy
    15. Acute/Episodic

  • EDAC News: Ministry transformation plans / indicators for contracts

    AFHTO’s Executive Director Advisory Council (EDAC) met on December 10th. This email highlights key items:

    Ministry’s discussion paper on transformation plans is anticipated in next week or two. Response period is expected to run until the end of February.

    In readiness, AFHTO members have taken a stand: AFHTO released statements on population-based primary care and transitioning care coordination resources to primary care based on input received from over 200 leaders from AFHTO member organizations during the October 28, 2015 Leadership Session. These new statements, with a reminder of related AFHTO statements on recruitment and retention and optimizing access to teams, were sent to the Minister, Deputy Minister and their staff, forwarded to LHIN CEOs and other health system stakeholders, and publicly posted on AFHTO’s Policy Positions web page.

    Regional meetings to build relations and receive member input:

    • 1hr web calls are being called for the “Leadership Triad” (EDs, Lead MD/NPs, and Board Chairs) from each region to hear initial response to the Ministry’s plans, and to determine FHT/NPLC leadership opportunities and support needs at the local level. Web calls are taking place the first two weeks of January – look for your calendar invite!
    • Following advice and requests from EDAC and the Physician Leadership Council (PLC), AFHTO has facilitated initial meetings of small groups of FHT/NPLC leaders and their respective LHIN CEOs in 8 LHINs (North West, Central East, South West, Waterloo Wellington, Central, Erie St.Clair, Mississauga Halton, Toronto Central).

    Indicators to be recommended for MOHLTC-FHT contract: Following from the membership vote, the AFHTO board approved a set of seven indicators to recommend to the Ministry as the replacement for Schedule E. Ministry will make final decisions. EDAC members were briefed on the membership survey results. The indicators, all from Data to Decisions (D2D) are: Patients Involved, Cervical Screening, Colorectal Screening, Childhood Immunization, Same/Next Day Appointment, Reasonable Wait, Diabetes Care. (Click here for data definitions.)

    Program planning and reporting: A joint FHT/Ministry work group and QIDS Specialists have been working collaboratively to develop:

    • Program Planning & Evaluation Framework to promote population-based planning and support the delivery of effective programs
    • Indicator Catalogue to help teams in their indicator selection process (will include most common programs FHTs/NPLCs report on, along with program objectives linked to performance measures that are based on best practice clinical guidelines)
    • Additional recommendations to improve the Schedule A template for reporting program plans.

    Coming Soon….The Framework, Catalogue and Schedule A will be made available and an overview provided via webinar in early February.

    Call for ED Mentor Volunteers: AFHTO has launched the ED Mentorship Program! Volunteer to be an ED Mentor and support the development of strong leadership across FHTs/NPLCs. Once mentors are selected, mentees will be identified and buddied up with a mentor in the New Year!

    For “Privacy” Sake…Save the Date: AFHTO has partnered with DDO Health Law to offer FREE Privacy training & tools for EDs and Board Chairs to assist in their understanding of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario’s (IPC/O) new privacy expectations. REGISTER NOW.

    D2D 3.0 – 120+ teams have signed up…nearly 70% of FHT/NPLC members! It’s not too late to participate- click here or contact Greg Mitchell for resources. Check out the instructional webinar recording  with a walkthrough of the D2D submission form, data dictionary and toolkit, all available online.

    Up-to-date list of EDAC members can be found here.

  • ED Mentorship Program – request for volunteers!

    AFHTO is pleased to announce the launch of the ED Mentorship Program…and we’re looking for volunteers to become Mentors!

    The Executive Director Advisory Council (EDAC) identified a need for a program that would provide assistance to new Executive Directors and those who would benefit from mentorship. AFHTO’s ED Mentorship Program is designed to fill this need. Mentoring is about supporting people to develop more effectively. It is a relationship based on trust, designed to build confidence and to help a mentee take increasing initiative. New EDs and those who would benefit from mentoring can learn from others who already have the experience and who are willing to provide the skills, knowledge and wisdom they have learned.

    • Volunteer to become a Mentor and to complete the volunteer application form
      (please apply by January 6th 2015).
    • ED Mentorship Program Overview, includes descriptions of the experience of an ideal Mentor and benefits to Mentors and Mentees.
    • Access the ED Mentorship Checklist, developed as a guidance document to assist Mentors when working with new EDs or those who would benefit from mentorship.
    • A process to identify mentees will be launched once mentors have been selected.

    Thank you in advance for your continued support and encouragement to other members. It’s an interesting time for primary care and we hope the development of the ED Mentorship Program will continue to build upon the strong leadership we have within the field. All Mentorship applications will be reviewed and those that apply will be contacted once all Mentors have been chosen (mid-January).

  • EMR queries for D2D – Expanded Indicators

    A number of additional EMR-based indicators are included in the expanded indicators. Teams are encouraged to contribute data for as many of the D2D indicators as possible to help refine the  Quality Roll-up Indicator. Please find below some queries created for these indicators. If you’d like to contribute more queries (and for other EMRs) – or have any questions  – please contact us.

    NOTE: All queries are tested and validated prior to release. However, changes that take place after the queries are released may affect how accurate they are. Such changes could include EMR software updates, new medications, and changes to standard clinical definitions. They may result in false positives, that is, patients being flagged who do not have the specified condition. They may also result in false negatives, that is, patients not being flagged who do have the condition. Queries are also limited by the quality of your EMR data. 

      Telus PS  A set of searches (.srx files) for the additional indicators for quality roll-up are available for download from this folder. The searches are for: Coumadin Management, Diabetes – screening, blood sugar management, cholesterol management, Hypertension Screening, and Influenza vaccinations. Please review the screenshots of these searches  – you may choose to use these searches or create own.      

  • Free Privacy Training for AFHTO members

    FOR “PRIVACY” SAKE…SAVE THE DATE!

    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, the following will be made available:

    • A 1hr Privacy Training Webinar for Executive Directors – 12-1pm WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27th 2016 – click here to register
    • A 1hr Privacy Training Webinar for Board Chairs – NEW DATE– 12-1pm WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3rd, 2016 – click here to register
    • Privacy Tools: To answer the top 5 privacy questions asked by FHTs and FHT staff – tools/templates to be released in JANUARY 2016

    Further details will be provided closer to the date of the webinars – please hold the appropriate dates/times in your calendars.

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

  • Bariatric Surgery #1: Introduction

    As part of a 3-part series, this webinar reviews the key components of bariatric surgery. Participants will have a better understanding of the process pre-operatively, post-operatively and the nutrition-related requirements for patients. This webinar includes resources and case studies for participants to implement into practice as well as set the stage for the following two webinars that will provide more advanced bariatric nutrition topics. Presented by Jennifer Brown, MSc, RD from The Ottawa Hospital Weight Management Clinic and Bariatric Surgery Program. This free webinar was presented in an unique collaboration between the Association of Family Health Teams (AFHTO) + Diabetes, Obesity and Cardiology (DOC) Network + FHT RD Network of Ontario. Resources and materials from the session:

    Don’t miss out on the next two webinars! Register today:

  • AFHTO releases two statements: care coordination/population-based primary care

    December 7, 2015 – Today the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario released two new statements as part of members’ ongoing work to improve access and integration of care in a sustainable health system. These two statements respond to and build on recent reports:

    Related statements include:

    Family Health Teams (FHTs) and Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics (NPLCs) have the leadership, dedication and willingness to step up to play their part in building a primary care system that understands and meets the needs of our patients and communities. Throughout the transformation process, they want to be heard, valued, and supported to succeed – above all else, with sufficient funding to stabilize the workforce and ensure sufficient capacity to deliver quality care. Furthermore, AFHTO members call upon the Ministry to begin the process of transitioning care coordination resources from CCACs to primary care teams.  The Ministry must work with primary care teams, LHINs, hospitals and other stakeholders to transfer all functions currently carried out by CCACs to the most appropriate bodies, to achieve greater efficiency and integration in care delivery. Population-based primary care and integrated care coordination are predicated on the availability of and access to primary care teams – currently limited to about one in four Ontarians. To spread access, AFHTO recommends the Ministry continue and strengthen its support for the field to:

    • Develop common understanding and measurement of population needs and team capacity.
    • Harness the will and expertise of local champions to spread team capacity in their communities, recognizing that different strategies and solutions will emerge to meet unique local realities.
    • Expand access where:
      • Capacity is sufficiently developed to manage additional demand without decreasing quality of care, and
      • Physicians are ready to commit to minimum requirements for meaningful collaboration and communication with the team.

    Advances by AFHTO members to measure results, through the Starfield Principles, are guiding the way to understand and assure progress toward government’s priorities of access, quality, and system sustainability. AFHTO policy positions can be accessed here. We look forward to working with the Ministry, LHINs, patients, communities, and health system colleagues to improve health and health care.

  • Primary care teams in a population-based health system

    Population-based primary care is about effective management of the health of defined groups of people. It ensures all within this group are attached to a regular primary care provider and can access the appropriate care when they need it. The province’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care convened an Expert Advisory Committee to recommend how to ensure access to appropriate care for all Ontarians. Their report Patient Care Groups: A new model of population based primary health care for Ontario, was released on October 15, 2015. Two hundred leaders from AFHTO-member organizations convened shortly thereafter to look into the role for primary care teams in a population-based health system. This included examination of the functions that would need to be further developed and strengthened in such a system. The key messages from this session:

    • Family Health Teams (FHTs) and Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics (NPLCs) have the leadership, dedication and a fundamental commitment to the well-being of their patients. They are willing to:
      • Step up to play their part in building a primary care system that understands and meets the needs of our patients and communities.
      • Stand up and be counted – using measurement to demonstrate their value and improve on it.
      • Build on the relationships they have been developing with other teams, other providers, and their LHINs.

    Click to read AFHTO’s response to the Expert Advisory Committee’s recommendations.

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #24: D2D 3.0 submission opens today! Plus, find out how to get data for “time spent delivering care”

    Start submitting D2D 3.0 data until January 15, 2016. Click here or contact Greg Mitchell for resources.

    Increase AFHTO’s ability to inform decisions about teams’ capacity: work with your lead clinician (using these notes on page 7) to get better data about the time your team spends delivering primary care. Quality Roll-up Indicator: The Movie! Check out the videos that explain what it is and why AFHTO is doing it, how it is calculated, what it means to your team and a national perspective from Dr. Danielle Martin. Need more D2D friends to share the work? Invite others to sign up for the e-Bulletin online to expand your D2D work team. Getting too many emails? Scroll to the bottom of the original email for the unsubscribe link. members

  • D2D 3.0 Data Submission – Instructional Webinar Recording

    Updated February 1, 2016 This recorded webinar will guide you through the data-submission process for D2D 3.0. It is an orientation to the platform, with a walkthrough illustrating how to submit your data as well as an introduction to the D2D 3.0 Data Dictionary and Toolkit.

    This webinar was held twice on December 2, 2015 for AFHTO members.