Ultimate Blogging Championship

Tag: Management/Operations

  • Business Continuity Toolkit, Governance During COVID-19 and more

    This email was sent to EDs/Administrative Leads, Board Chairs and Lead Clinicians of AFHTO member organizations.
     
    Dear triad members,

    Hope you are all staying well and healthy during these very challenging times.

    There have been some new tools/resources and updates we wanted to share with you that you may find helpful:

    • AFHTO’s Business Continuity Toolkit – we have developed this toolkit to help our teams plan for and adapt to the disruption of COVID-19 and it potentially can be used for future pandemic disruptions. Within the document you will find a number of tools and resources to help develop a plan for your own organization. A reminder to check the AFHTO website for templates your colleagues have developed if you are looking for tools you can adapt. Please also send us any materials you are developing so we can share with your colleagues as well.
    • FHT/NPLC Governance During COVID-19 – Frequently Asked Questions developed by Kathy O’Brien of DDO Health Law. We know many of you are starting to think about year end and how to govern during a pandemic emergency, including how to conduct things like virtual annual general meetings. Kathy has provided some answers to the most pressing concerns and we will continue to provide more information as we receive it.
    • Update #1: Health System COVID-19 Pandemic Response – letter from Matt Anderson, CEO of Ontario Health, which will be sent regularly to provide updates on the work of the pandemic response teams across the province. AFHTO now sits at the weekly COVID-19 Stakeholder Table which now provides an opportunity to articulate the ongoing concerns and challenges being faced by primary care to the Ministry and Ontario Health directly.  
    • The release of two Guidance documents from the Ministry’s Emergency Operations Centre including the Provincial Testing Guidance Update which speaks to increased laboratory testing capacity and Cyber Security Advisory for Zoom conferencing software.
    • Just a reminder that we have a COVID-19 section on the website that hosts tools and resources you may need, including policies and procedures from your colleagues that you may find helpful in adapting for your organization, as well as the daily Ministry Situation Reports. We have also included a new tab Providing Comprehensive Care During COVID-19 which includes resources related to COVID-19 for providing comprehensive primary care – this will be updated as resources become available.

     
    Stay well, and please contact us any time. We’re here to support you through this.
     
    Sincerely,
    Your AFHTO Team

  • Follow-Up from March 27th webinar, Qs and As from the Ministry and Clarity on PPE Questions from MEOC

    This email was sent to EDs/Administrative Leads, Board Chairs and Lead Clinicians of AFHTO member organizations.  

    Dear triad members,

    Thank you to all the executive directors who were able to join our regional calls earlier this week. We were pleased to hear how well many of you are doing, and to hear how we can continue to support you.

    This email is a follow-up to provide the information promised during the calls.

    • It sounds like teams are providing over 90% of care virtually with approximately 80% to 85% of their staff working remotely, so teams are exploring different tools for providing this care. We’ve now posted more information about virtual care that may help. This includes apps and programs that can be used, as well as how to set up call display when calling patients.
    • We’ve also put together information we’ve received from the ministry’s Emergency Operations Centre to help with PPE questions regarding asymptomatic patients and providers, the use of homemade masks, and the PPE survey. You can see it here.
    • We hosted a webinar on March 27 with Maria McDonald (McDonald HR Law) and Kate Dewhirst (Kate Dewhirst Health Law) called “Human resources, privacy, and risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic: What do you need to know?” There were several questions we committed to follow-up on. The answers to those questions and the webinar recording are here.
    • From the March 27 webinar and the ED regional calls this week, there were also questions for the ministry. The answers can be found here. If you have additional questions, please let us know or connect with your ministry consultant.

    Just a reminder that we have a COVID-19 section that hosts tools and resources you may need, including policies and procedures from your colleagues that you may find helpful in adapting for your site. We’ll continue to keep you updated, and we’ll reach out soon to arrange another round of check-in calls to happen in about 2-3 weeks’ time.

    Stay well, and please contact us any time. We’re here to support you through this.

    Sincerely,
    Your AFHTO Team

  • Bits & Pieces: daily PPE surveys, updated COVID-19 case definitions & more

    Bits & Pieces: daily PPE surveys, updated COVID-19 case definitions & more

    Your Weekly News & Updates

    In This Issue  
    • Daily PPE surveys
    • Updated COVID-19 case definitions and more
    • HR, privacy and risk management slides and video
    • Do you know any heroes of COVID-19?
    • EMR CoP transition to OntarioMD
    • Advance care planning & goals of e-learning modules- deadline today to register for free
    • Primary care virtual community – April 2- primary care leading through challenging times
    • Message from Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario)
    • Upcoming events including CMHA Ontario and Mental Health Works Webinars – In response to COVID-19 pandemic

    Daily PPE surveys
    Yesterday the Ministry’s Emergency Operations Centre (MEOC) sent out an email asking healthcare providers to fill out daily PPE surveys online. This falls under the Minister’s Order on Personal Protective Equipment Data Collection. There were some questions if primary care falls under this and today MEOC sent out the following:

    • We understand there is some confusion over whether organizations are captured under the term “All centres, programs or services for community health or mental health whose primary purpose is the provision of health care”
      • This term should be interpreted broadly, as the intention is to gather information respecting availability of PPE across the province in order to address vulnerabilities in health service provider PPE supply
      • To confirm, the scope of this request includes public health units and primary care providers

    We sent a follow up email yesterday to EDs, Lead clinicians, and board chairs with the link and relevant password.

    The survey will open at 8am each morning, and close at 5pm each day. Webinars about the survey are:

    We understand there are several PPE surveys from the MOH, Ontario Health and OMA – we are trying to get some clarity on the intent of these all so we can provide some guidance once we receive it.

    Updated COVID-19 case definitions and more
    Last week we reorganised the resources and updates on our site into several pages:

    We have also added another page – Mental health and wellness during COVID-19

    We’ll update these on a regular basis as we receive relevant resources, while trying to reduce duplication with other sources. We will continue to update the news page daily.

    • The Ministry of Health has posted a new COVID-19 website that is easier to read and posts the daily epidemiological summary. Provincial and regional data on confirmed cases, including trends of cases since the outbreak began, geography, exposure, and severity can be seen on this site.  

    HR, privacy and risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic webinar

    HR, privacy and risk management slides and video

    On Mar. 27 we held the HR, privacy and risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic webinar, presented by Maria McDonald of McDonald HR Law and Kate Dewhirst of Kate Dewhirst Health Law. Slides, video and tools referenced in the webinar are now posted on the site.

    There were a few questions that were also asked – we are currently working through the answers and will share them once finalized.

    Please log in and then click on this link to access them (available only at triad level).

    Do you know any heroes of COVID-19?
    Last week Broadbent Institute launched Heroes of COVID-19 “to highlight the exceptional acts of good happening across the country in the face of this pandemic.” Heroes so far include UFCW Canada, Black Creek Community Farm, Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran Sahib volunteers, and ACORN members. If you’d like to highlight an individual or team’s efforts, you can submit your story here.

    EMR CoP transition to OntarioMD
    As many of you are aware the EMR communities of practice (CoP) will be transitioning from AFHTO to OntarioMD effective March 31, 2020. AFHTO would like to thank all members for their continuous support and participation. We would also like to sincerely thank CoP leads for their dedication to these groups! We look forward to a smooth transition.

    OntarioMD is in the process of updating membership lists for existing CoPs. Please take a few minutes to fill in this form through which contact info is being collected. OntarioMD will use this information to send all meeting invitations and updates regarding the CoPs after March 31, 2020. Moving forward, the central contact email will be support@ontariomd.com. Listserv emails and meeting invites will be updated after March 31, 2020.  

    If you have any comments, questions or concerns about this transition, please take a few minutes to fill out the following surveys:

    Thank you for your continued support and participation in these important meetings!

    Advance care planning & goals of e-learning modules- deadline today to register for free
    Now more than ever, with the anticipated impact of COVID-19 and the rapidly growing cohort of elderly people nearing end of life, the subject of Advance Care Planning is a critical one for our health care system and for quality of life.

    Hospice Palliative Care Ontario has re-launched the Health Care Consent Advance Care Planning and Goals of Care E-Learning Modules. The self-directed modules are intended for Clinician Competency Training on Health Care Consent, Advance Care Planning, and Goals of Care conversations where learners will move beyond advancing their knowledge and attitudes to develop clinical skills. Register for free per the instructions listed here before tomorrow, April 1.

    Primary care virtual community – April 2- primary care leading through challenging times
    While Primary Care is leading through a challenging time, the Primary Care Virtual Community (PCVC) is our space to come together and invest in our relationships. As a community, our aim is to support and connect to each other across Ontario and reflect on what’s needed to lead through challenging times.

    We are responding to many of your requests to meet this week!

    • This Week’s Topic:  Primary Care Leading Through Challenging Times
    • Date and Time: Thursday April 2nd, 2020 from 7pm-8pm

    We will be joined by Drs Sarah Newbery, Marathon FHT and Rob Annis, North Perth FHT and Penny Paucha, Founder and Principal at Instincts at Work. Penny will share her insights on thinking and working through complexity and chaos.

    As always, our conversation will be guided by you, our primary care community in Ontario #ONPrimaryCareLeads.

    To register for the Primary Care Virtual Community: Click Here

    Message from Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario)
    Consistent with the Ministry of Health’s recommendation that all non-essential health care services be delayed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) is recommending that all routine cancer screening tests be delayed. This includes screening for colorectal cancer with the fecal immunochemical test (FIT).

    Please be aware that LifeLabs has temporarily stopped mailing FIT kits to patients as of Monday, March 23, 2020. Therefore, we ask that you do not send requisitions for FIT until further notice.  A requisition that was received by LifeLabs before March 23rd but has not yet resulted in a FIT kit being mailed, will remain in a processing queue. These requisitions will not expire, and the FIT kit will be mailed at a later date.  While LifeLabs will continue to test all completed FITs that are received during the COVID-19 pandemic, if patients contact your office to request information about screening, we recommend that those who have received a FIT kit recently and have not yet completed it, wait until further notice to complete their FIT.

    Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) recommends follow-up procedures continue for people with abnormal cancer screening results that are highly suspicious for cancer, including abnormal FIT results; however, please be aware that the feasibility of follow-up procedures during the pandemic will depend on the resources available at each hospital or facility.

    If you have any questions about cancer screening during the pandemic, please contact screening@cancercare.on.ca

    CMHA Ontario and Mental Health Works Webinars – In response to COVID-19 pandemic, April 2-17, 2020
    For health care professionals and workers: with topics relevant to both hospitals and clinics, as well as telehealth professionals and those who work to support patient outcomes, such as custodial staff, security professionals, and administrators.

    1. Mental Wellness for Healthcare Professionals – April 2, 6-7 pm
    2. Stress Management in Healthcare Settings -April 6, 5:30-630 pm
    3. Mental Health for Telehealth –April 15, 6-7 pm
    4. Mental Health for Support Staff: Taking Care of Yourself – April 17, 6-7 pm

    Understanding Bronchiectasis Webinar, April 21, 2020
    Learn more about this neglected pulmonary disease. By the end of this webinar, you will be able to help patients self-manage the disease and avoid the acquisition of nontuberculosis mycobacteria. Find out more here

  • HR, privacy and risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic- webinar

     

    This email was sent to EDs/Administrative Leads, Board Chairs and Lead Clinicians of AFHTO member organizations. 

    HR, privacy and risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic –Mar. 27 webinar
    These are uncertain times and the way we are now practicing primary care has changed dramatically in the last few weeks. As we move towards more virtual care and accommodating more work from home, there are a lot of questions around how to support our staff and ensure that patient and provider safety be paramount in this ‘new normal’.  Things are evolving every day and new announcements of support are continuing to be announced.

    Making sense of it all can be a challenge with the ongoing flow of information so join us for a Q and A with Maria McDonald of McDonald HR Law and Kate Dewhirst of Kate Dewhirst Health Law to learn more about what you need to know during this challenging time.

    If you would like to submit your questions in advance to ensure they are addressed during the webinar, please feel free to send them to info@afhto.ca and we will make sure that Maria and Kate are aware of them prior to the presentation. We will add the slides and recording to our site within a business day or so of the webinar.

    A few additional items of interest:
    1. The Ontario Government released Ontario’s Action Plan 2020: Responding to COVID-19 which includes $17-billion action plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding announced can be divided into the following three categories:

    • Direct support for health care;
    • Direct support for people and jobs;
    • Deferrals to help people and businesses increase cash flow.

     As expected, this Action Plan is noted as the first step in its response to COVID-19, with a focus on ensuring front-line health care providers get the resources they need to fight the outbreak. For details of the Action plan please visit the government website or read the H+K Insights Note that provides a summary of the investments announced.  

    2. Ontario Health is evolving its COVID-19 regional response table into a revised Health System Response structure – as details emerge we will let our members know but please take a moment to read this memo from H+K on the New Health System COVID-19 Response Structure.

    3. Ontario College of Familly Physicians has just released their In-Office Assessment Guidance to manage in-person visits.

    4. A reminder that we continue to post the Ministry situation reports daily and other relevant COVID-19 information on our website. If you have any tools/resources that you have developed and want to share, please email info@afhto.ca.

  • Bits & Pieces: new COVID-19 guidance for primary care; COVID-19, HR, privacy & risk webinar & more

    Bits & Pieces: new COVID-19 guidance for primary care; COVID-19, HR, privacy & risk webinar & more

    Your Weekly News & Updates

    In This Issue  
    • COVID-19 guidance for primary care
    • HR, privacy and risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic – Mar. 27 webinar
    • Reorganizing COVID-19 resources on our site
    • Shift to Virtual Care-Primary care response to COVID-19
    • Early lessons: tackling a global crisis with a community response
    • Member renewal payments-hold cheques please
    • Upcoming events including NPAO COVID-19 peer support group and CMHA Ontario and Mental Health Works Webinars – In response to COVID-19 pandemic

    COVID-19 guidance for primary care
    The Ministry has released the latest version of COVID-19 Guidance: Primary Care Providers in a Community Setting. Please use this version as your guidance document for your teams.

    Highlights include:

    • Implementing a system for virtual and/or telephone consultations
    • Referrals to local assessment centres
    • Conducting clinical examination and specimen collection using Contact/Droplet precautions
    • Link to latest case definition, signage and PHO IPAC recommendations

    HR, privacy and risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic –Mar. 27 webinar
    These are uncertain times and the way we are now practicing primary care has changed dramatically in the last few weeks. As we move towards more virtual care and accommodating more work from home, there are a lot of questions around how to support our staff and ensure that patient and provider safety be paramount in this ‘new normal’.  Things are evolving every day and new announcements of support are continuing to be announced.

    Making sense of it all can be a challenge with the ongoing flow of information so join us for a Q and A with Maria McDonald of McDonald HR Law and Kate Dewhirst of Kate Dewhirst Health Law to learn more about what you need to know during this challenging time.

    If you would like to submit your questions in advance to ensure they are addressed during the webinar, please feel free to send them to info@afhto.ca and we will make sure that Maria and Kate are aware of them prior to the presentation. We will add the slides and recording to our site within a business day or so of the webinar.

    Reorganizing COVID-19 resources on our site
    Every day new information on COVID-19 comes and we know it’s hard to sort through it all. Considering this we have reorganised the resources and updates on our site into several pages:

    We’ll update these on a regular basis as we receive relevant resources, while trying to reduce duplication with other sources. We will continue to update the news page daily.

    *Please also note that the list of essential workplaces in response to COVID-19 was released yesterday. Primary care and the interprofessional care provided by teams are essential though not explicitly noted – as we try to get some clarity on this, the recommendation is to shift to as much virtual care as possible. We continue to press the Ministry and Ontario Health around the issue of lack of PPE and hope they will have some information in the coming days.

    Shift to Virtual Care - Primary Care Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Document

     

    Shift to Virtual Care-Primary care response to COVID-19

    On Thursday, Mar. 19 we sent the email “Update on COVID-19 and Moving Towards More Virtual Care”. It listed different tools teams might use for virtual care and activities to support patients and families during this period of self-isolation and physical distancing.

    We have now compiled those and more in Shift to Virtual Care-Primary care response to COVID-19, a document outlining what fellow teams have done to support their patients. You can also find more information on our Virtual Care, Digital Health and COVID-19 page.

     

     

     

     

    Early lessons: tackling a global crisis with a community response
    Longwoods article co-authored by Dr. Tia Pham, South East Toronto FHT on East Toronto Health Partners (ETHP)’s response to COVID-19 and lessons which may help other OHTs.

    Member renewal payments-hold cheques please
    We understand members are focused on COVID-19 right now. As we plan for the upcoming year with membership renewals please note that our building will be closed starting tomorrow. If you plan to pay by cheque, please hold for about two weeks. We can still accept payments via Interac and EFT. We’ll provide another update as soon as we’re able to do so. Please contact info@afhto.ca for further information.

    NPAO COVID-19 peer support group webinar, Mar. 26
    Infectious disease outbreaks like COVID–19 can be worrying and can affect your mental health.  Because of this NPAO has set up a group chat webinar for NPs where you can share your thoughts, experiences, concerns, etc. with your colleagues. Join at 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm for free.

    Understanding Bronchiectasis Webinar, April 21, 2020
    Learn more about this neglected pulmonary disease. By the end of this webinar, you will be able to help patients self-manage the disease and avoid the acquisition of nontuberculosis mycobacteria. Find out more here

    CMHA Ontario and Mental Health Works Webinars – In response to COVID-19 pandemic, April 2-17, 2020
    For health care professionals and workers: with topics relevant to both hospitals and clinics, as well as telehealth professionals and those who work to support patient outcomes, such as custodial staff, security professionals, and administrators.

    1. Mental Wellness for Healthcare Professionals – April 2, 6-7 pm
    2. Stress Management in Healthcare Settings -April 6, 5:30-630 pm
    3. Mental Health for Telehealth –April 15, 6-7 pm
    4. Mental Health for Support Staff: Taking Care of Yourself – April 17, 6-7 pm

  • Update on COVID-19 and Moving Towards More Virtual Care

    This email was sent to EDs/Administrative Leads, Board Chairs and Lead Clinicians of AFHTO member organizations.

    These are challenging times and we really appreciate the phenomenal care that is being provided by everyone working in team-based primary care and in health care. As the foundation of the health care system, your relationships with your patients and families are based on trust and they are looking to you now more than ever to be there for them during these very uncertain times. But through it all, taking care of yourself and your team to ensure there is a healthy workforce is paramount and important for your own health and well-being.

    However, things are ramping up and there is a real need to start capacity planning should there be a need to redeploy health human resources to the ongoing fight against COVID-19. In the next few days you’ll receive a survey from the Ministry who are looking at capacity in the system – we’ll send that as soon as we get it, and would request that you prioritize filling that in as soon as you receive it.

    Planning for More Virtual Care
    Today Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health issued a memo Re: Managing Health Worker Illness and Return to Work COVID-19. In the document he makes recommendations related to travel and return to work for health care providers. He also notes:

    While other services are decreasing their operations, in health care you are being called upon to care for patients and to be ready for surge. I am asking, where there may be an opportunity, for all health system employers to facilitate work arrangements that enable appropriate employees to work from home or to work virtually, if not re-deployable.

    Health system employers should also consider a review of their services and practices to identify how they can provide services to patient groups virtually or remotely.

    These are uncertain times, but the recommendation is to try to accommodate care for patients virtually as much as possible. If your providers, including IHPs and admin staff, do need to come into the clinics please ensure they are well protected. We are very aware of the PPE challenges in primary care and continue to press the Ministry and Ontario Health for updates on the supply issues and hope to have some information on that when provided.  

    We are currently working on business continuity plans and collecting policies related to accommodating staff to work from home and hope to share that with you soon – a reminder that we are posting materials on our site daily including the Ministry’s COVID-19 Situation Reports. If you have anything you can share, please send to info@afhto.ca and we will make sure to share it with the teams.

    Many teams have already started virtual care or employing some activities to support patients and families during this period of self isolation and social distancing. Here are some tools you may want o implement with your teams:

  • Annual Operating Plans: Update from Primary Health Care Branch, Ministry of Health

    Email Sent on behalf of Fernando Tavares, Program Manager, Interprofessional Programs Unit, Primary Health Care Branch.
     
    Dear Colleagues,
     
    We have recently received questions from several of you regarding the deadline for the 2020/21 Annual Operating Plans (AOPs) and other timelines in the context of the work that is currently happening to deal with the impact of COVID-19 in Ontario.
     
    At this time, we understand that your attention should be focused on planning and supporting patients, caregivers, and staff who may be impacted by COVID-19.
     
    Annual Operating Plans
     
    After much consideration, we have decided to delay the distribution of the 2020/21 AOPs. If you wish to get a head start on your AOP, you are welcome to use last year’s version as it will be very similar to this years template.  We want to give extra time to organizations whose staff and leaders might be working on COVID-19 planning.
     
    COVID-19
     
    We have been receiving a lot of questions regarding operational issues generated by the spread of COVID-19.  We wanted to share our key messages that have been developed for staff on how to respond to these questions.
     

    • The Ministry of Health is supportive of interprofessional primary care teams supporting locally driven initiatives. The Ministry is asking for teams to deploy clinical resources where they are most needed.
    • Interprofessional primary care teams should take the lead from Public Health experts (at the Federal, Provincial and Municipal levels), who are taking the lead on the response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
    • The Ministry will consider reimbursing for extraordinary expenses incurred on a case by case basis, and should contact their Ministry representative.   
    • For issues related to critical shortages PPE of supplies and equipment, please contact EOCLogistics.MOH@ontario.ca.

    We will continue to monitor this situation closely, and please reach out to your Ministry contact if you have additional questions or concerns.
     
    Reporting Timelines:
     
    As teams head into year end reporting, a number of question have come up with regard to pressures in meeting these timelines. We want to reassure you that staff have been directed to be flexible on report submission timelines. We understand that we are in uncharted waters, and things will come up that are not within your control, nor expected. We will work with you to address these issues as they arise but be reassured that deadlines will be treated as guidelines until things get back to normal.
     
    On behalf of the Primary Health Care Branch staff, we thank you for your continued work toward keeping our communities safe and healthy.  

    Fernando Tavares
    A/Program Manager, Interprofessional Programs Unit
    Primary Health Care Branch
    Ministry of Health
    49 Place D’Armes Floor 3, Kingston, ON, K7L 5J3

  • Bits & Pieces: ON state of emergency, COVID-19 updates & more

    Bits & Pieces: ON state of emergency, COVID-19 updates & more

    Your Weekly News & Updates

    In This Issue  
    • Ontario declares state of emergency
    • COVID-19 updates including memo
    • Selecting an IPAC representative
    • Virtual visit billing codes, PPE recommendations & steps to reduce spread
    • Members’ stories
    • Registration now open for Project ECHO Ontario Bariatric Network (OBN) series starting April 2, 2020
    • NPAO Patient Choice Award
    • Upcoming events including Leading in turbulent times

    Ontario declares state of emergency
    Today, the Government of Ontario announced that it is making an order declaring a state of emergency under s 7.0.1 (1) the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

    Updates relevant to health care include:

    • $100 million for increased capacity in hospitals to assist with the effective treatment of COVID-19 patients both in critical care and medicine beds.
    • $50 million for more testing and screening through public health, including additional funding to support extraordinary costs incurred to monitor, detect and contain COVID-19 in the province. This includes contact tracing, increased laboratory testing capacity and home testing.
    • $50 million to further protect frontline workers, first responders and patients by increasing the supply of personal protective equipment and other critical supplies and equipment to protect them.
    • $25 million to support frontline workers working in COVID-19 assessment centres, including the creation of a new fund to provide respite care, child care services and other supports as they are needed.
    • $4 million for Indigenous communities to support transportation costs for health care professionals and the distribution of critical supplies.

    You can also read H+K’s insight note on the declaration here.

    COVID-19 updates including memo

    For EDs, Lead Clinicians and Board Chairs:
    At this time only 107 of 193 members have either completed this short survey to track provider preparedness, or otherwise contacted us. The Ministry of Health and Ontario Health (Shared Services) have emphasised the importance of filling this out. Please do so as soon as possible. This is a direct link to the spreadsheet, with no need to log in.

    Health care providers facing immediate challenges with their personal protective equipment supply levels can email the ministry at EOCLogistics.MOH@ontario.ca.We have also asked Ontario Health for an update on PPE supply and hope to get some information to you soon.

    We continue to update the relevant page on COVID-19, including the self-assessment tool and a memo from the provincial command table dated Mar. 16. If you have any questions, you can also email EOCOperations.moh@ontario.ca.

    You can also read H+K’s memo on yesterday’s press conference from the Ontario government here.

    Infection control resource page

    Selecting an IPAC representative

    During emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, clinical sites may start thinking about their own policies including infection control.  Per a regional IPAC Specialist at Public Health Ontario, selecting an IPAC representative may be very different from team to team. Hamilton FHT, for example, has designated Quality Improvement individuals who take on this role.

    Smaller teams may not have this option and may choose to find someone who is interested in the role, or whose current role most closely fits with the role (e.g., patient safety).  

    It may also be the case that they do not wish to have an overarching IPAC person but have an individual at each clinical site that is responsible for IPAC.

    If you are looking at training for your team you may want to consider:

    • IPAC Canada keeps a list of paid courses here. They cover a lot of ground and have a lot of information that may not be applicable to a team setting.
    • Free Public Health Ontario resources are shown on our infection control resource page.

    We’re working with PHO to develop tools, resources and webinars for our members once we’re able to focus more on everyday concerns and will be surveying our members shortly to get your thoughts on what is needed. But in the meantime, please share any resources you have developed by sending them to info@afhto.ca.

    Virtual visit billing codes, PPE recommendations & steps to reduce spread

    Members’ stories

    Bancroft Community FHT – Bancroft Community FHT Doctor presented with Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Award

    South East Toronto and North York FHTs – Your next visit to a doctor may not be face to face. Ontario shifting to virtual-first model in bid to halt spread of COVID-19

    Project ECHO Ontario Bariatric Network

    Registration now open for Project ECHO Ontario Bariatric Network (OBN) series starting April 2, 2020

    Update your knowledge on post bariatric care and obesity management by joining the upcoming videoconferencing series hosted by Guelph General Hospital Bariatric Centre of Excellence. Discuss patient cases and learn about leading surgical and medical treatment options for patients with obesity and strategies to identify and prevent potential post – operative complications. Sessions are offered at no cost to all practitioners and allied health professionals working in primary care.

    Find out more and register here.

    NPAO Patient Choice Award
    Nominations for this award are submitted by patients, based on their description of their nurse practitioner’s professional qualities, approach to patient care and specific stories of dedication and how the nurse practitioner has made a difference in their lives or the lives of others. You can find a poster for your wait room and more information here. Deadline June 22, 2020.

    Leading in turbulent times – how to guide your teams through the Coronavirus pandemic, March 19, 2020
    Learn how to apply LEADs framework so you can lead to support and protect the community from widespread exposure.
    Learn more here.

    Electronic Asthma Management System (EAMS) – OSCAR Tool Demonstration, March 24, 2020
    Join this webinar for an hour-long demonstration to learn more about EAMS. Register here!

    Managing the Complex Patient: Diagnosis, Treatment and Follow-Up: CHEP+ Conference, April 4, 2020
    The second annual CHEP+ conference is accredited and now being offered online. Learn to cover C-CHANGE guidelines. Find out more here.

    Rainbow Health Ontario Conference, CANCELLED
    The RHO conference was cancelled, and paid conference registration fees will be fully refunded. Click here for more information.

    Understanding Bronchiectasis Webinar, April 21, 2020
    Learn more about this neglected pulmonary disease. By the end of this webinar, you will be able to help patients self-manage the disease and avoid the acquisition of nontuberculosis mycobacteria. Find out more here

    Together We Care: OTLCA & ORCA Conference, CANCELLED
    This convention has been cancelled, including the OLTCA’s general meeting and leadership dinner. The ORCA general meeting will proceed via webinar. Click here for more information.

    Insomnia Interventions: First-Line Treatment for Insomnia in Primary Care, POSTPONED
    This program has been postponed. Click here for more information.

  • Winter Highlights 2020: AFHTO Leadership Council

    The Leadership Council Members met on February 5, 2020. Below are the highlights from the winter 2020 Leadership Council Meeting.

    Supporting AFHTO through reallocation funding

    • Members are asked to consider supporting AFHTO’s governance and leadership program through in-year reallocation funding if year-end surpluses are available.
    • The ministry recently clarified the additional information needed for reallocation requests to support OHT implementation and/or AFHTO projects. The requirements are posted here.

    Organizing primary care and supporting OHT development

    • AFHTO continues to develop supports and tools for OHT development.
    • In partnership with OCFP and SGFP, AFHTO has been facilitating regional physician information sessions in communities. Sessions focus on providing clinicians with information on OHTs and supporting the development of regional physician networks.
    • Physician engagement sessions are encouraged to help ensure OHTs are anchored in primary care and to identify local opportunities for change. If interested, please contact Bryn Hamilton.
    • AFHTO will be releasing two documents – “Primary Care Physicians: Working Together for Change” and “Primary Care: Local Change Ideas” shortly!
    • Tools and webcasts continue to be developed with our partners on collaborative governance strategies and OHT governance structures.
    • The Primary Care Virtual Community continues to bring together leaders in health system integration, with a focus on 10 high-impact action items to strengthen primary care. Register now!

    Advocating for team-based primary care in health system transformation

    • The 2020 pre-budget submission was submitted in January to the Ministry of Finance. AFHTO will be meeting with Minister Elliott, MPP France Gelinas (NDP health critic), and Minister Tibollo’s staff in February to discuss the recommendations. A meeting already occurred earlier this year with staff in the premier’s office to provide them with an introduction to AFHTO and team-based primary care.
    • AFHTO is working with associations who represent health care providers in team-based care to develop an advocacy platform on what we agree is needed from a primary care perspective for OHTs to be successful. We are still looking for patient quotes or short success stories about the impact of team-based care. Please contact Beth MacKinnon if you have one to share.

    Quality improvement work continues

    • The Quality Improvement in Primary Care Council has partnered with the eHealth Centre for Excellence to work on an environmental scan on post-hospital discharge.
    • AFHTO is collaborating with partners through the Primary Care and Mental Health and Addiction Table on two projects: an OHT guidebook with innovative mental health and addiction models highlighted, as well as digital health and streamlining referral forms.
    • Knowledge translation webinars continue, focusing on virtual care and online booking, as well as QI success in mental health and addiction. Please contact Sandeep Gill if there are any KTE webinars you would recommend.

    Staying on top of coronavirus preparedness

    Ministry update on OHT development

    • An update on OHT development was provided by Allison Costello (Director, Integrated Care Branch) and Phil Graham (Executive Lead, Ontario Health Teams) from the Ministry of Health.
    • There is a focus on setting a policy framework on large items like funding, accountability, and performance indicators, so it can be clear to teams on what to expect. However, this framework is still in development and not ready to be shared.
    • OHT candidates that have been approved are being brought together on February 19 and 20 to discuss policy barriers and to work with support partners through RISE. OHTs are asking for some rules and parameters, and ones that teams would consider helpful will be discussed during this two-day session. This will include those for shared decision-making and home care.
    • The budget setting process for the next fiscal is underway, and officials are looking at what can be done regarding supports. Clinical engagement is a priority and resources to support this are being considered. However, no commitments can be made at this time.

    Calling all members!

    • Would two EDs, two board chairs, and two physicians or nurse practitioners consider serving on a committee for external requests? Requests are frequent from stakeholders, and AFHTO is looking for feedback on suggested webinar topics, training tools, etc. regarding what would be of most value.
    • Input would be requested once a month. It’s not expected to take much time.
    • We’re still looking for one board chair and one physician or nurse practitioner for this committee. If you’re interested, please contact Bryn Hamilton.
  • 2019 Operational Updates Wrap-Up Communique

    2019 Operational Updates Wrap-Up Communique

    This email is being sent to Lead Clinicians, Board Chairs and EDs/Administrative Leads of AFHTO member organizations.

    Contents

    • OHT Development
    • Expansion of Team-Based Care, More Mental Health and Addictions Support and Care Coordination
    • Governance and Leadership Tools, Resources and Supports
      • Manuals and Guides
      • Libraries
      • Toolkits
      • Case Studies
      • Additional tools and resources
      • Webinar and workshop slides and videos

    Clock in snow

    Every year we say the same thing – what a challenging and busy year it’s been! But for this year in particular truer words have never been spoken! 2019 was an exceptionally busy year,and with ongoing health system transformation it has really tested the resiliency of our teams as many took on more leadership within their communities to support local level partnerships and collaboration.

    As we close out the year, we wanted to provide you with an operational update wrap-up on some of the activities we are working on your behalf.

     

    OHT Development

    Now that the first cohort of 24 Ontario Health Teams has been announced, we understand that the real work in implementation begins if we are to realize the true potential of this initiative. But as fairly lean organizations, we also understand that capacity remains an ongoing challenge – there are only so many hours in a day!

    Capacity and resources (both human resources and infrastructure support), importance in valuing and supporting clinical leadership, and ensuring there is a move towards true population health with primary care as the foundation is part of our ongoing discussions with the Branch. As a reminder, we have ongoing monthly meetings with the OHT Branch to express any questions or concerns that you may have so please let us know if you do have any at any time so we can let them know.

    Expansion of Team-Based Care, More Mental Health and Addictions Support and Care Coordination

    Primary care teams provide value for health dollars by speeding up access to care and offering a wider range of programs and services to promote health and manage chronic disease. They bring together the variety of skills needed to help people stay as healthy as possible. This is what is going to help with reducing hallway healthcare.  

    AFHTO continues to advocate for more supports in primary care, especially as it pertains to ensuring more patients have access to team-based care, in particular in the areas of mental health and care coordination. In the new year, we hope to see a roll out of a comprehensive structured psychotherapy program which will provide much needed mental health supports to more Ontarians and we continue to advocate to ensure that the care coordination resources that currently reside in the LHINs are embedded in primary care.

    Governance and Leadership Tools, Resources and Supports

    We have so many tools and resources available for members, but since they have been announced throughout the years, we thought a refresher would be welcome, especially since we know you’re exposed to so much information every day. Below are Governance and Leadership tools, resources and training. More emails with resources related to measurement, quality and member benefits are coming.

    You can flag these emails, so they’ll be easy to find for future reference. And if you know any of your staff, board or physicians would appreciate getting these sorts of notifications, please remind them they can sign up for our ‘Bits & Pieces’ weekly newsletter, where we announce the latest relevant news and updates. They can just email info@afhto.ca and we’ll be happy to add them!

    Most of these are members only resources. You will need a login to access them so please create your individual login if you don’t already have one.

    Manuals and Guides

    Libraries

    Library

    Toolkits

     

    Case Studies

    Additional tools and resources

    And for those who would rather watch than read, here are some of our past webinars and events:

    privacy webcast 2

    If you have any questions about these resources and materials, please feel free to contact us at info@afhto.ca.