Ultimate Blogging Championship

Category: Uncategorized

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #13 – June 11, 2015

    Be there for the launch of D2D 2.0: Orientation webinars on June 18, 2015, register now. Tell us how your team works together to improve primary care: Complete the pre-D2D survey by June 18, 2015 to add your voice to the AFHTO story about teamwork. Do you really know what QIDSS can do? Watch the video for ideas (but by no means all!) of the things your QIDSS can do for you. QIDSS learning more about how to help teams use data: QIDSS and QIDSS-like people are invited to a Knowledge Translation and Exchange day on June 22, 2015. Contact Denise Pinto for more information. Do you want to invite others to get the eBulletin? Invite them to sign up online. 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.

  • QIDS Program and D2D Impact Assessment

    UNDER CONSTRUCTION – check back soon!

  • AFHTO 2015 Conference: presenter notifications sent out

    Thank you to everyone who submitted an abstract for concurrent session and poster presentations at the AFHTO 2015 Conference. The working groups have now reviewed all submissions and a notification e-mail has been sent to each contact person. If you are part of a group that has prepared an abstract, please ensure your group contact has received an e-mail including the words “AFHTO 2015 Conference” in the subject this week. If your contact person has NOT received this notification, please contact conference@afhto.ca by Friday, June 12, 2015 at 12:00 noon (EST). The notification e-mail is your assurance that your abstract has been reviewed by a working group for presentation at the conference and a decision made. The program with all concurrent session descriptions will be announced when registration opens in late June 2015.

    We look forward to seeing you at the AFHTO 2015 Conference! Team-Based Primary Care: The Foundation of a Sustainable Health System October 28 & 29, 2015 Westin Harbour Castle, One Harbour Square, Toronto

  • Ontario to introduce patient privacy amendments

    Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care aims to introduce amendments to the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) in the fall. If passed, these amendments would include making it mandatory to report breaches to the commissioner’s office; lifting the requirement that offences be prosecuted within six months of an alleged breach, and doubling fines for individuals and organizations. For further details, you can read the original news release or The Globe and Mail article with video of the announcement by Min. Hoskins. AFHTO members can also log-in to access related resources:

  • Letter from President: AFHTO submission to Minister on optimizing the value of team-based primary care

    Dear board chairs, EDs and Lead MDs/NPs of AFHTO-member organizations: I am forwarding to you the briefing note AFHTO has produced to inform the Minister and ministry’s thinking as they develop plans for moving toward “comprehensive regionally governed, population-based primary health services for Ontarians.” True to our mission to work with and on behalf of members to provide leadership in supporting and expanding high-quality, comprehensive, team-based primary care, AFHTO has completed a literature review to identify the critical ingredients to gain optimal results from a primary care team, and across a population. In order to inform the Minister and ministry’s thinking as they develop plans, AFHTO’s board of directors has distilled this evidence into a set of principles for optimizing the value of teams, and an initial set of recommendations for moving forward. These are presented in the two-page briefing note. This briefing note is a starting point for further discussion – with AFHTO members, our colleague associations in the Ontario Primary Care Council, as well as MOHLTC – on how to spread access to high-quality, comprehensive team-based primary care. Your input is most welcome. Please e-mail info@afhto.ca to submit your thoughts on this briefing note and where we need to go from here. All comments received from members will be considered by AFHTO’s Physician Leadership Council and ED Advisory Council in their meetings in July. These two groups will also meet jointly in early September, leading up to the annual Leadership Session for all board chairs, EDs and Lead MDs/NPs, immediately before the AFHTO conference in October. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Randy Belair AFHTO President and Executive Director, Sunset Country FHT (Kenora)

  • Optimizing value of and access to team-based primary care

    Evidence tells us that, with a team-based approach to primary care, patients experience more timely access to care, better care coordination and improved management of their chronic diseases. At present, about 25-30% of Ontarians can access team-based primary care. The logical question is – how do we expand access to primary care teams and get the best value from this investment? The Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO) has combed the research literature to find the answer.  From this we present a set of principles for optimizing the value of teams and offer an initial set of recommendations to get started.

    Recommendations to move forward:

    Immediate steps to optimize current capacity:

    Work with the field to develop common understanding of needs and capacity:

    • Identify the skills, data and leadership needed for population-based needs assessment and planning. Involve the people who receive care and their primary care providers in the assessment and planning process.

    Where there is sufficient capacity:

    • Enable more family physicians and nurse practitioners to participate as full collaborators in teams, based on their commitment to the necessary processes and behaviours for effective teamwork.
    • Harness the will and expertise of local champions in primary care to lead the development of innovative regional solutions to spreading interdisciplinary team capacity more broadly in their communities, recognizing that different strategies and solutions will emerge to meet unique local realities across the province.

    Throughout, do not expand access to teams unless:

    • Family physicians are ready to commit to minimum requirements for meaningful collaboration and communication.
    • Capacity is sufficiently developed, such that additional demand can be managed without causing unacceptable increases in waits for appointments and/or decreases in quality of care.

    Resources:

  • Resources for Contributing to D2D 2.0

    The following were the resources used to contribute to D2D 2.0.

  • Sign up for June 18 D2D 2.0 release webinar and check out the new QIDSS video

    Over half of AFHTO’s membership has contributed data to D2D 2.0! June 18 is the report release date. Sign up for the webinars to learn how to navigate the report and see how you compare to your peers.  In the meantime, Executive Directors will be invited to complete a pre-D2D 2.0 survey. This survey will help AFHTO members measure, demonstrate and improve the impact of teams, the QIDS program and D2D on comprehensive, interdisciplinary team-based primary care. EDs – watch for a follow-up email. QIDS Specialists – a key force in advancing meaningful measurement – are the subject of a new video. Three minutes was not nearly enough time to showcase their complete range of skills and competencies, but it does illustrate a few of the ways they’re making a big difference. 

    Check in with your QIDS Specialist to find out more about how they can help your team – or contact Carol Mulder for more information. For more information about D2D 2.0 you can visit the relevant page here in the Members Only section.

  • Do you really know what QIDSS can do? Watch the Video for ideas

    This short video highlights a just few of the activities QIDSS (Quality Improvement Decision Support Specialists) provide but not all of the range of skills and competencies that can be taken advantage of. QIDSS are flexible. They do different activities for diverse teams depending on where the team is on their Quality Improvement (QI) journey.  It’s not one size fits all!

    Want to see what a QIDSS can do for YOUR team, watch the video for some ideas.

    Contact your QIDSS for more information or if you’re not sure how to contact your QIDSS, e-mail improve@afhto.ca  for assistance.

  • What is a Quality Improvement Decision Support Specialist (QIDSS)?

    Over 30 Quality Improvement Decision Support Specialists (QIDSS) are dispersed across the province to help members access and use data better to improve care, supported by our Quality Improvement Decision Support (QIDS) program. More specifically, they “assist FHTs in meeting their quality improvement objectives through data standardization and extraction, information production and on-going analysis.” This short video highlights just a few of the activities QIDSS provide but not all of the range of skills and competencies that can be taken advantage of. QIDSS are flexible. They do different activities for diverse teams depending on where the team is on their Quality Improvement (QI) journey. It’s not one size fits all! If you want to learn more about what a QIDSS can do, watch the video below.