AFHTO – Ministry Meeting – April 2018

Here is a quick recap of the meeting AFHTO had with the Primary Care Branch at the Ministry on Tuesday, April 17^th:

1. Annual Operating Plans and Governance Attestation Document: All FHTs and NPLCs should have received their AOP materials and FHT governance attestation documents earlier this week, with a due date of May 31, 2018.  The Ministry will not be holding a webinar to answer questions but as much of the AOP is similar to last year’s, we encourage you to view last year’s recording for some guidance in the development of the content of your plan. If you need any support or resources, please do not hesitate to contact Bryn Hamilton or speak directly to your Ministry Senior Program Consultant. A reminder also that the newly developed Skills-Based Board Toolkit for FHTs and NPLCs is available for teams that are looking to enhance the skills capacity of their Boards. Materials of interest:

• NPLC Intro Memo and Instructions and NPLC AOP Submission Package
• FHT Intro Memo and Instructions, FHT Annual Operating Plan, New FA Schedule A Template, Appendix A – FHT Expenditures Guidelines, 2018-19 Governance and Compliance Attestation
• Spinal Cord Injury Ontario letter and Equipment Information Sheet

2. New FHT Contract: Almost all FHTs were able to sign back their new FHT contract before the deadline date with only a few outstanding. There are still a number of questions that AFHTO and our members have with regards to the contract and the Ministry does intend to provide a Qs and As document within the next week to answer those questions. Once received, AFHTO will pass along the document.

3. Recruitment and Retention Funding Funding packages related to the roll out of the R&R funds for the next three years are currently making its way through final approvals at the Ministry. If the packages are signed before the writ is dropped, AFHTO will host a webinar with the Ministry in early May to walk through the details of the funding.

4. Expansion of Team-Based Care FY 2017/18 expansion of interprofessional team-based care have already been announced and the following teams that have been approved to expand their primary care service and program delivery in their community:

• Windsor FHT (Erie St. Clair LHIN)
• Burlington FHT (Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant LHIN)
• Woodbine FHT (Central West LHIN)
• Dufferin Area FHT (Central West LHIN)
• Central Brampton FHT (Central West LHIN)
• Queen Square FHT (Central West LHIN)
• Credit Valley FHT (Mississauga Halton LHIN)
• Sherbourne Health Centre (Toronto Central LHIN)
• Kapuskasing Area IPC (Northeast LHIN)

FY 2018/19 teams have also been approved and the Ministry will be making an announcement about those expanded teams shortly. AFHTO is exploring the idea of starting a community of practice for the teams that are undergoing expansion so stay tuned for more details related to that

 5. LHIN Primary Care MSAAs AFHTO has been working with the MSAA (multi sector accountability agreement) working group to develop a MSAA that is more aligned with the expectations in the FHT and NPLC contracts – our lawyer has reviewed the new FHT contract against the current MSAA and we have provided the LHIN CEOs with a number of recommendations for change before rolling out the MSAA into the field so that teams can start accessing LHIN funding. At present, if you would like to apply for LHIN funding you need to find a HSP who can act as a ‘flow through’ for funds but cannot yet sign the MSAA directly. For FHTs that are Health Links hosts, you should be seeing your Health Links funding come directly from the Ministry this fiscal year.