Recently, the Ministry of Health published a number of Connected Care updates on various topics including the the Ontario Health Team (OHT) timeline, next steps with respect to Ontario Health and the LHINs, its new Digital First for Health strategy, and consultations on public health and emergency health services. Updates are listed according to date, with the most recent one a the top.
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Transfer Orders Issued to Non-Home and Community Care Vice Presidents and Directors at LHINs
On November 29, 2019 the Honourable Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, issued transfer orders under the Connecting Care Act, 2019 for non-Home and Community Care Vice Presidents and Directors of the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) into Ontario Health, effective December 2, 2019.
These transfers will help support the five Transitional Regional Leads plan for the eventual transition of LHIN functions into Ontario Health or to OHTs, and to ensure that patient services continue uninterrupted. Certain LHIN functions will eventually transition into Ontario Health over time. LHIN functions that involve delivering home and community care will eventually move to local OHTs.
Transfer Orders for Five Transferring Agencies Now In Effect
As previously announced, December 2, 2019 is also when the transfer orders issued to five provincial agencies on November 13, 2019 come into effect.
There are no changes to the activities of the five agencies, with the exception of the Physician Assistant Career Start Program operated by the Health Force Ontario Marketing and Recruitment Agency. The Ministry of Health will be managing this program moving forward. Given the complexity of Ontario’s organ and tissue donation system, the Trillium Gift of Life Network will transfer into Ontario Health at a later date.
Regulatory Change
On January 1, 2020, a new regulation will come into effect under the Connecting Care Act, 2019 that would give the Minister of Health the authority to transfer the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) into Ontario Health.
Read the full update.
Consultations: Public Health and Emergency Health Services
The Hon. Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, launched the next phase of renewed consultations through a webinar and the release of two discussion papers.
Jim Pine, recently appointed advisor to the Ministry of Health, will lead this next phase of consultations as he works with municipalities, the public health and emergency health services sectors, and other stakeholders.
The discussion papers are posted on the ministry web page for feedback:
Read the full update.
Digital First for Health Strategy
According to the update, the strategy aims to provide more virtual care options, expanded access to online appointment booking, greater data access for patients, more connected tools for frontline providers, and data integration and predictive analytics. It was also noted that first phase will enable Ontario Health Teams to collect, use and share information to allow for better patient care and outcomes. This will be achieved through the proposed changes Ontario is making to modernize the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) that will also introduce stricter provisions for any individual or organization that misuses personal health information.
Read the full update.
Ontario Health, LHINs and Legislative Updates
This week, the government also announced that it is integrating multiple provincial agencies (Cancer Care Ontario, Health Quality Ontario, eHealth Ontario, Health Shared Services Ontario, and HealthForceOntario Marketing and Recruitment Agency) into one agency, Ontario Health. As the next step in the integration of the agencies, the Minister of Health has issued transfer orders to the Board Chair and CEOs of five provincial agencies to inform them that their agencies will transfer into Ontario Health on December 2, 2019.
The update also shared information about the operational reorganization of the 14 LHINs into five interim and transitional geographical regions. Each of the five interim regions will have Transitional Regional Leads, who were announced in the update.
Finally, the government also provided a brief overview of legislative and regulatory changes to support this work.
Read the update.
OHTs - Key Dates Announced
The Ministry of Health and a panel of third-party advisors are evaluating the applications and conducting community visits to meet with each of the teams. Subsequently, the first cohort of OHTs will be announced in late November 2019. In March 2020, the next round of teams will be invited by the Ministry to submit full application forms.
Read the update.