Ultimate Blogging Championship

Tag: Members Only

  • Case Study: Embedding Care Coordinators in your team

    AFHTO, in partnership with the Osborne Group, has prepared a case study for AFHTO members which looks at how five Family Health Teams (Mount Forest FHT, Sunnybrook Academic FHT, City of Lakes FHT, Guelph FHT,* and South East Toronto FHT) have effectively embedded the Care Coordinator role within primary care. Their advice to other primary care teams, and the lessons they have learned in the process, include the following:

    • Having a care coordinator as part of the team has a significant impact on quality and effectiveness of care.
    • Pay attention to the principles of change management as new models of service delivery are rolled out. Change may be difficult, and it may take some time to build relationships and trust.
    • With increased system coordination and collaboration there is a learning curve; it may take time but effective relationships are important to success.
    • Learn from other FHTs and primary care teams about their approaches so that you can build on their experience to build a collaborative model that fits the profile of your team and leverages your strengths.
    • Define the role broadly giving the Care Coordinator access to a broad array of providers and services.
    • Have a home base for the Care Coordinator at your site, or dedicated on-site time when inter-professional providers can see and talk to them. This improves efficiency and builds a sense of collaboration and teamwork.
    • Enable access to your EMR for the Care Coordinator.
    • A quality improvement perspective will contribute to a broad understanding of the role.

    *Please note: The case study on Guelph FHT, which was completed in 2016, no longer reflects the current state of care coordination in the Waterloo Wellington LHIN region. The LHIN has opted for a different approach and is not embedding care coordination in primary care. AFHTO asserts the role of primary care providers to lead care coordination. Primary care providers work to ensure access to interprofessional care for patients and identify a single point of contact to help patients and families navigate and access programs and services. The Ministry’s Patients First proposal speaks to deploying care coordinators in primary care. A number of teams have already done this and their experience can help other primary care teams as well.

    Learning from your peers: additional case studies

    AFHO has developed a series of case studies for our members to share the experience of colleagues on topics identified as being important to you:

     

  • Governance For Quality Training

    The presentation slide decks for the Effective Governance for Quality in Primary Care Workshops, updated for 2016, are now available. To access them, see the links below (note: the workshop has 8 modules, each with a separate slide deck).

    What is Effective Governance for Quality in Primary Care?

    Effective Governance for Quality in Primary Care  is an evidence-based training program for FHT and NPLC Boards of Directors, Executive Directors and Medical Leads, . developed in partnership with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) and is delivered by peer leaders. To support the quality agenda in primary care, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) partnered with CPSI, the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO), the Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC), and the Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario (NPAO) to customize CPSI’s Effective Governance for Quality and Patient Safety to Ontario’s primary care organizations. Effective Governance for Quality in Primary Care materials are updated regularly. Workshops are occasionally offered in Toronto and at various places around the province. Each workshop contains information to help Board members, Executive Directors and Medical Leads guide their organization in delivering quality primary care through good governance. Presentations from the session guide participants through exercises, case studies and best practices on how to lead, govern and improve organizations focused on quality. Please contact us to learn more.

    Workshop Slides:

     

    Workshop Handouts:

     

  • Patient Decision Aids

    Patient decision aids are tools that help people become involved in decision making by making explicit the decision that needs to be made, providing information about the options and outcomes, and by clarifying personal values. They are designed to complement, rather than replace, counseling from a health practitioner. The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute has developed a resource library and website of Patient Decision Aids for clinicians to use with patients.

    How can I find decision aids?

    Where are the online tutorials?

    What’s the evidence?

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #34: Tracking new evidence in follow-up, give your input to refine D2D indicator in survey

    D2D refinement survey: D2D is AFHTO’s way of influencing primary care reporting on your behalf.  Please tell us what you want D2D to include so it can best reflect your team and your association. Please complete the survey before May 18. Evidence about the impact of follow-up after hospitalization! VERY new analysis provides long-awaited evidence of the impact of follow-up after hospitalization. Among other things, it provides hints about the optimal number of days after discharge in which follow-up should happen. Tracking phone encounters in your EMR to measure follow-up by the TEAM: AFHTO members have said follow-up is NOT just about physicians.  AFHTO is changing the follow-up indicator accordingly, and we have tools to help your team track phone encounters by ALL clinicians to better reflect follow-up by teams. “Improving diabetes care; improving diabetes outcomes”: The upcoming event on June 16 was sold out within 48 hours. (AFHTO’s version of the “same/next day” indicator!)  We still have room for patients though, please see the FAQ for suggestions on how to invite them and/or check with Catherine regarding the waitlist. Join the Diabetes Care CoP: Do you have a passion for diabetes care in your team? Join the fledgling interprofessional Community of Practice to make audacious improvements in the health of patients with diabetes.

    Help spread the word about D2D – invite others to sign up for the e-Bulletin online. 

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #33: Collecting feedback to refine D2D

    Membership wide survey coming out next week to guide any changes for D2D 4.0. We need you and your colleagues’ input to determine what is manageable and meaningful for members. Changes emerging from your input will be released in June with the updated Data Dictionary. IHP focus groups are done, all 6 of them! Summary of results will be available soon. Thanks to the two dozen or so clinicians and their teams for supporting AFHTO’s efforts to move from measurement to improvement. Curious about what other teams are doing? So are they, about you! Our annual conference is a time for members to share and learn from one another. Submit your abstract by May 5. Resources are available on our website to help you make the most of your submission. Orientation webinar for EMR-based decision support tool: Ontario Stroke Network is presenting the next iteration of a prototype for The Vascular Health Assessment Support Tool (VHAST). This EMR-based platform will allow you to compare clinical data with best practices for a range of vascular illnesses. Register here for an orientation webinar to be held on Monday, May 9. Newly submitted QIP reports now available for review in the HQO QIP Navigator. HQO released a blog post today detailing Why Planning for Quality Improvement Matters with an update on 2016/17 QIPs.

    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.

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #32: Using EMRs to reflect team’s contribution to care

    Progress with a better measure of 7-day follow-up: As an important first step in measuring what your team REALLY does for follow-up after hospitalization, we are working with our EMR communities of practice to develop queries and processes to track phone encounters in your EMR. Learn more at the links above, and/or talk to your QIDSS. Exploring equity: QIDSS are exploring AFHTO members’ baseline capacity to collect socio-demographic data in EMRs, in order to help track health equity for your patients. Moving beyond measuring to improving diabetes care: AFHTO, in collaboration with Toronto LHINs, is presenting a free learning event for QIDSS, IHPs, and patients with diabetes. Space is limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis. Registration opens on Monday, May 2, 2016. D2D data dictionary update: We’re starting to collect input on what changes will be made this year. Members will be asked to vote on potential changes in May 2016, prior to the release of the updated Data Dictionary in June. Visit our site for more information and progress updates. Increase consistency of Schedule A reporting with the help of the Program Planning & Evaluation Framework, Indicator Catalogue, and other resources from AFHTO, designed to help you choose better indicators for your AOP submission.

    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.

  • Exploring Health Equity

    Health equity is achieved when people are able to reach their full health potential and receive high-quality care that is fair and appropriate to them and their needs, no matter where they live, what they have or who they are. AFHTO is committed to helping members work towards this goal and to identify gaps and opportunities to improve health care for all of their patients. We have begun work towards establishing a baseline on social demographic data collection and the capacity of EMRs to record and track this information, starting with a conversation in our weekly QIDSS calls and EMR CoP meetings focused on two main questions:

    • What social demographic data is currently being captured in the EMR?
    • What social demographic data can be easily recorded in the EMR today?

    The Tri-Hospital + TPH Health Equity Data Collection Research Project have begun work on answering the question of what Socio-Demographic factors to measure. Their findings, presented in the report We Ask Because We Care, were reviewed and shared with the QIDSS and EMR CoPs, and we have started our conversation with the data elements presented there. This work will lead to recommendations for adding social demographic data to the EMR Data Quality Indicator for D2D 4.0.

  • Hire a Student: Funding & Placement Programs

    Canada Summer Jobs 2016: Deadline Extended

    The deadline to apply for funding for a summer student through the Canada Summer Jobs Program has been extended to March 11, 2016.

    Private, public, and not-for-profit employers are eligible for this funding. Not-for profit employers can receive funding for up to 100% of minimum wage; public and private sector employers can receive funding for up to 50% of minimum wage. Additional funding is available to cover the cost of accommodating students with disabilities in the workplace. The job must provide meaningful work experience for the student, be full-time (3o-40 hours per week), and have a duration of 6-16 weeks. Students employed through this program are between 15 and 30 years old, were full-time students in the previous academic year, and intend to return to full-time studies in the next one. They must be legally entitled to work in Canada  — this includes Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and persons with refugee status; foreign students are ineligible. For more information and a step-by-step guide to the application procedure, visit the Canada Summer Jobs page at Service Canada. AFHTO members have had success hiring students for a number of different projects including clean-up of EMR data.  A number of them have gone on to work for our members permanently, including some of our QIDS Specialists!

    Related documents

     

    [original post & updates for D2D 3.0]

    Need help getting ready for D2D 3.0? Consider hiring a student!

    You will be able to submit data for D2D 3.0 from December 3 until January 15.   And you might want some help to get ready for that. Students can be a big resource for teams.  If you think you could use someone for nearly a week in Dec (14-18), please contact Barb Nayler with the Health Information Management program at St. Lawrence College.  Even though St. Lawrence is in Kingston, students are available across the province, especially in Toronto and Ottawa.  Several of our fabulous QIDSS are health information management professionals from this or similar programs, so there is a really good chance these students have the right skills to be helpful. If you think you need someone longer than 4 days, there are other options. Read on, and follow the links for more! You’ll find links to lists of student placement programs, provincial and federal government incentives, and guidelines on how to recruit, train, and support your visiting students.

    Hiring a Student: Overview

    Hiring a student to clean EMR data can be a really rewarding experience.  The incentive programs for physicians provide financial rewards for better coded data.  Teams will be better able to identify candidates for chronic disease management programs.  Everyone will be better able to track progress of patients with chronic diseases and make sure they are getting the kind of follow-up they need.  From a pragmatic perspective, it will be easier to do QIP reporting and participate in D2D, adding your voice to strengthen your association’s ability to advocate for what you need.  And you may learn something too! There are many students in health programs who both want and need placements as part of their programs – they can add their energy and fresh knowledge to your team.  And finally, hiring a student may give your team an advantage in recruiting future staff, physicians or otherwise. You don’t have to start from scratch with hiring a student.  Several teams have been doing this for years, assigning students to help clean up EMR data, doing things like reconciling the roster with MOHLTC, making sure chronic diseases and risk factors like smoking are coded in the appropriate problem lists etc.  AFHTO has compiled a tool kit based on these experiences to share the learnings with other members of AFHTO.  It includes step by step guidance, starting with how to make the case for better EMR data with physicians and other decision-makers and estimating the costs and benefits of the project right down to posting and filling the position and creating the training handbook for the students.

    Checklist for Hiring A Student

    The following are the steps to consider when planning a student placement:

    Planning and Funding

    Decide that you want to clean up your historical data.

    • Why should you do this? What’s Important to YOUR Practice?
    • Budgeting and Incentive Programs
    • Sample draft physician agreement note
    • Consider the different types of students potentially available

    Recruiting A Student 

    1. Determine the specific activities you want the student to undertake and form your job description around this.
    2. Start the recruitment process: This varies according to choice of student and school.
    3. Interview and select candidates.

    Training and Hosting the Student

    1. Enroll your team to participate in/send a student to an orientation session:
    2. Prepare to host the student:
    3. Mentor/monitor student (support to be developed)

    Evaluating the Impact of the student work (More information to come) To ensure that teams are receiving value in the projects undertaken by students it is important that teams evaluate the outcomes of the  projects e.g. a clean roster, better coding of data leading to improved billings, to the time and cost of bringing in a student. For more information please contact Catherine Macdonald.

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #31: 7-day follow-up indicator changes

    You are not alone in seeing a big drop in your team’s 7-day follow-up. The definition has changed – click here for more information. Need more data for your QIP or AOP?

    • Group-level Primary Care Practice Reports: new version online with more information than was available in December, for those who signed up before October 31st. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can still sign up for the next iteration.
    • AFHTO’s program planning template and indicator catalogue can help you increase consistency in selecting program indicators for your AOP submission.
    • 2015/16 QIP Analyses: Insights into Quality Improvement summary report from last year’s Primary Care QIPs now online (with many success stories).
    • HQO has developed resources to assist you with the new “equity” indicator in the QIP Navigator. If you haven’t received e-mail updates about this, please contact QIP@hqontario.ca.
    • Other quality improvement resources for members are available here.

    AFHTO 2016 Conference: Join a working group to shape the conference program by March 25. THANK YOU for telling us how D2D is working for you. Interviews are underway with Dan Wagner (MSc student). Contact Carol Mulder for more information.

    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.

  • HQO Patient and Family Council Guides

    In consultation with patients and providers, Health Quality Ontario, has developed a series of guides aimed at helping advisory councils in any health sector get started and maintain momentum. By providing practical tips and tools, the guides assist patient and family advisory councils in focusing on

    For links to other resources available to help create and sustain an effective patient and family advisory council, visit Health Quality Ontario’s hub of patient engagement tools and resources.