Click here for the memo from the Chief Medical Officer of Health regarding provincial and international measles activity as of February 11, 2015.
Category: Uncategorized
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CMOH Memo Feb 11, 2015 Re: Measles Activity
Click here for the memo from the Chief Medical Officer of Health regarding provincial and international measles activity as of February 11, 2015.
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Governance education webinars for primary care leaders
AFHTO is offering free educational webinars for our members over the next few weeks to: 1) Help primary care leaders meet the requirements in the ministry’s Accountability Reform Initiative and the Governance and Compliance Attestation; 2) Share best practice and strategies to improve governance; 3) Identify and address common issues in FHT/NPLC governance. There are 3 separate 90 min webinars, each webinar will be offered twice and posted on the AFHTO members only website. Please register in advance – space is limited. See below for webinar details and to register. REMINDER: Registration is also open for the Effective Governance for Quality Workshops.
Session 1: Getting Started - Wednesday, February 18 from 12:15 – 1:45pm OR
- Friday, February 20 from 8:00 – 9:30 am
Learning Objectives Topics to be Covered What the Ministry expects from FHTs and NPLCs and whyUnderstanding the basics of good governance - 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
Session 2: The Board’s Responsibilities - Monday, February 23 from 12:15 – 1:45pm OR
- Friday, February 27 from 8:00 – 9:30am
Learning Objectives Topics to be Covered Understanding the Board’s role and responsibilities - 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
Session 3: Looking Forward – using good governance to enhance organizational performance - Monday, March 2 from 12:15 – 1:45pm OR
- Wednesday, March 4 from 8:00 – 9:30am
Learning Objectives Topics to be Covered Understanding some of the more advanced elements of good governance and how they impact organizational performance - Strategic planning
- Strategic plans, operational plans, and KPIs
- Partnerships and community linkages
- Board evaluation
- Public complaints and resolution policy
- Governing for safety and quality
- Generative governance
The webinars will be provided in partnership with peer leaders from FHT teams and the Osborne Group, and will leverage the tools and resources to strengthen governance structures and processes found within the ‘Fundamentals of Governance Program’ that was developed in 2014. REMINDER In-Person Training: Effective Governance for Quality Workshops Program registration is free of charge and open to board members, executive directors and lead clinicians of all AFHTO member organizations. It is recommended that each organization send more than one board member to the program to fully benefit from the training. Click here for more information about the workshops. Register for one of the sessions below before Friday, March 13, 2015):
- Workshop #1: Wednesday March 25th from 10:30 to 4:30pm
- Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport (skywalk connects the hotel to Terminal 3)
- Workshop #2: Monday March 30th from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm
- Eaton Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard Street West Toronto, Ontario (Next to Eaton Centre- closest subway station Yonge-Dundas/College)
The Governance for Quality in Primary Care workshops are now accredited by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Ontario Chapter for up to 5 Mainpro-M1 credits. If you have any questions, please contact Bryn Hamilton, Provincial Lead – Governance & Leadership (bryn.hamilton@afhto.ca)
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Data to Decisions eBulletin #4
Data to Decisions eBulletin #4 – Feb 5, 2015
The D2D eBulletin has moved to a dedicated distribution list. You are signed up to receive future issues. If you’d like to opt out of receiving the eBulletin, please indicate this using the ‘unsubscribe’ option at the bottom of this e-mail. All those not on the distribution list can sign-up for future eBulletins by clicking here. Please forward this to interested members of your team to give them the opportunity to receive the latest updates.
Contributing to D2D 2.0
Indicator selection: The indicators proposed for D2D 2.0 are under consideration by the QIDS Steering Committee and will be released to members, probably in the next ebulletin (Feb 19) if not before! D2D 2.0 data submission and presentation tool: A prototype of the tool for teams to submit data to D2D 2.0 will be available to QIDSS for testing in mid-to-late February. Contact Puja Ahluwalia or Greg Mitchell for more information.
Using D2D 1.0 to improve data quality and care
Improving quality of clinical data in EMRs: Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) hosted the first of four or five regional sessions this week with QIDSS and the CCO Regional Primary Care Leads, supporting improvements in the quality of cancer screening data in EMRs and the progress in cancer screening efforts. Next week, QIDSS and leaders from CPCSSN and EMRALD are joining forces to extend the logic from CPCSSN/EMRALD case definitions to queries that AFHTO members can use in their own EMRs, even if they are not part of CPCSSN or EMRALD. Contact Carol Mulder for more information about either initiative. Automating patient experience surveys: AFHTO is inviting quotes for a service for members that will take much of the work out of administering patient experience surveys, while at the same time will increase the consistency of both the content and process for the surveys. Please see the Request For Quotes on the web site for more details. Tool kit to help you recruit summer students: A tool kit that will assist AFHTO members on recruiting summer students for EMR data cleaning projects will be available in the next few weeks on the AFHTO members-only website. It is based on input from QIDSS and AFHTO members who have had success with this in the past.
Other news about manageable meaningful measurement
Success!! Accessing clinical data in PSS: Almost overnight, nearly 50 AFHTO members have taken up a new tool to extract data from any custom forms in PS, something that was not possible for teams to do previously. The tool emerged from the Innovation project developed by the East Wellington FHT and has spread like wildfire via the QIDSS. As a result, Dr. Kevin Samson and Hope Latam (QIDSS) have been invited to present their work on this to the national Practice Solutions (PS) forum this spring. To learn more about this story click here. Interested AFHTO members can find out more from Marg Leyland. Physician Leadership Council: AFHTO is pleased to announce the inaugural meeting of the Physician Leadership Council (PLC) that took place on January 28th. The newly created PLC plays a significant role in enabling physician leaders from across the province to provide a sounding board on FHT-related matters and give advice to the AFHTO board and staff as needed. For the first time physician leaders now have a platform to create a collective impact that can optimize FHT value, function and operations. Click here for the draft Terms of Reference and membership listing. Contact Bryn Hamilton for more information on the discussion and decisions. 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 two workshops or for more information, click here. Patient-doctor partnership composite indicator development: In order to develop a tool to measure the indicator, a draft patient questionnaire will be tested among QIDSS in the upcoming weeks and will be available to interested parties to try after that. Contact Puja Ahluwalia for more details. EMR migration survey to be completed by executive directors, lead physicians, board chairs and QIDSS by February 25, 2015: 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 the experiences of those who have gone before. We hope this might ease the transitions for those teams planning to change EMRs.
What do you think?
We hope you find value in the D2D eBulletin and will continue to subscribe to it. 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 web site for more information
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Physical activity as medicine: Centre for Family Medicine FHT and University of Waterloo publish findings
Feb. 4- Researchers at the Centre for Family Medicine FHT conducted an environmental scan of 102 FHTs with the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo to gain a better understanding of the current use of physical activity as medicine among Ontario’s FHTs. Their findings were published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. Click here for further details.
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St. Michael’s Hospital Academic FHT partners with Toronto Public Library on literacy program
Feb. 3 – Global News profiled “Reach Out and Read”, a literacy program launched by St. Michael’s Hospital Academic FHT in partnership with the Toronto Public Library. The initiative aims to start children reading earlier in life to aid in their physical and mental development. Click here to see the video.
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South East Toronto FHT partners with community to open pregnancy clinic
Feb. 3 – Premier Kathleen Wynne helped open a new pregnancy clinic in Thorncliffe Park, an initiative driven by South East Toronto FHT and their partners. The neighbourhood has the highest birth rate and highest proportion of children under age 14 in Toronto. Partners include The Midwives Clinic of East York — Don Mills, Toronto East General Hospital, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Flemingdon Community Health Centre and South Riverdale Community Health Centre. Click here for further details.
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Minister releases action plan for health care: highlights for AFHTO members
On February 2, 2015 the Honourable Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins presented his plan for health care — Patients First: Action Plan for Health Care – on four themes: access, connecting patients to the services they need in their community, informing and educating patients on health care options, and protecting the quality, value and sustainability of health care services. There is one specific mention of primary care in the Action Plan. It reads – Quality Primary Care We know that access to quality primary care varies across the province. Some Ontarians have timely access to a family doctor, nurse practitioner and integrated health care teams and some do not. Together with our partners, we will bring forward a plan to ensure our primary care providers are organized around the needs of our population, such as those in northern, rural and fast-growing communities, focussing on greater accountability and access for these individuals and families. The plan does not go into any detail. The Minister did note in his speech the need to ensure access to “team-based, integrated, coordinated primary care,” and stated the report of the Expert Advisory Committee on Strengthening Primary Health, co-chaired by David Price and Elizabeth Baker would point the way. The Home & Community Care Expert Panel, chaired by Gail Donner, will also speak to the role of primary care. The Minister has received reports from both of these expert groups and we anticipate they will be released in the next month. The action plan does not mention recruitment and retention in primary care. Immediately after the speech, AFHTO’s Executive Director had the opportunity for a brief chat with the Minister. Before she said anything, the Minister’s first words were, “Recruitment and retention in primary care … we have to act on this.” A follow-up meeting with staff in the Premier’s Office and Minister’s Office is being organized. Additional items for AFHTO members to note are the province’s commitment to:
- Increase access to primary care providers and same day/next day appointments.
- Expand Health Links in more communities across Ontario.
- Integrate physiotherapists and other types of health care providers into the family health practice.
- Allow nurse practitioners to prescribe assistive devices.
- Explore ways to improve dementia supports, including new memory clinics.
- Increase transparent reporting on the quality and value of care to ensure the sustainability of the health system.
There are many details that are not yet known. AFHTO will continue to work with and on behalf of members to monitor, consult, advocate, inform and support you as events unfold. Links:
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Register for Effective Governance for Quality in Primary Care Workshop in March 2015
The Governance for Quality in Primary Care workshops are now accredited by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Ontario Chapter for up to 5 Mainpro-M1 credits.
Register for one of these workshops:
Workshop #1:
- Wednesday March 25th from 10:30 to 4:30pm – Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport (Skywalk connects the hotel to Terminal 3)
Click here to register for this workshop.
Workshop #2:
- Monday March 30th from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm – Eaton Chelsea, 33 Gerrard Street West Toronto, Ontario (Next to Eaton Centre- closest subway Dundas or College station)
Click here to register for this workshop.
Click here to go back for more information page about this program.
This session is FREE for board chairs/members, executive directors and lead MD/NPs of AFHTO member organizations.