The global pandemic has accelerated the adoption of virtual care at a rate never imagined. Out of necessity, hospitals have made rapid strides – innovating to shift large segments of their in-person care to virtual. The anecdotal response from patients has been overwhelmingly positive and adoption has been at a record high. Despite this short-term achievement, we cannot rest on our laurels - building a sustainable path forward requires our collective, deliberate and system-wide effort now.   

The new reality is that virtual care is no longer a "nice to have" – it is a required enabler to increase efficiency and patient flow within the hospital, support integrated care across the system, protect the health and well-being of patients and staff, and ultimately enhance overall patient experience and quality of care.   

The OHA in collaboration with the Women's College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care (WIHV), has designed a series of virtual conversations to deliberate how best to sustain the gains we have made in virtual care over the past few months, and how we can create a system that is built to last. Designed specifically for senior administrative and clinical leaders from hospitals and direct patient care providers, this series consists of three sessions and seeks to address:  

The Why: Why is it imperative to make this necessary sustained change to our health care system? What has changed? How can hospital leaders pave the path forward to capitalize on the gains we have made thus far? How do leaders ask the right questions and frame their conversations to set achievable virtual care goals?

The How: How do we redesign patient care and clinical workflow with virtual care integration at its core? How can virtual care enhance the patient and provider experience? How can we make virtual care a sustained reality in Ontario?   

The What: What is required from an operational, organizational and system perspective to sustain this? What are the data integration, infrastructure and policy changes required to create a future-oriented and sustainable model for virtual care in Ontario?  

Click on the links below to register for the upcoming sessions:

Sustaining the Gain: Driving the Case for Virtual Care in Ontario - October 14, 2020 from 8:00 - 9:00 am

Sustaining the Gain: Virtual Care at the Centre of Patient CareRedesign - October 23, 2020 from 8:00 - 9:00 am

Sustaining the Gain: Building a Foundation for Future Success  - November 11, 2020 from 8:00 - 9:00 am