Innovation Procurement in Health Systems: Exploring Practice and Lessons Learned
As rising healthcare costs continue to challenge the sustainability of global health systems, there has been a strategic shift toward a focus on value, which considers the outcomes and value of healthcare delivery relative to the costs of care delivery. A unique feature of this focus on value has influenced a shift in procurement whereby health organizations are advancing the procurement of innovative solutions to achieve defined outcomes that overcome challenges such as the quality, safety and cost of care delivery. In this paper, we report on the implementation of three innovation procurement models in four Ontario healt...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Patient Experiences in Canadian Hospitals
With its first release of patient experience data, the Canadian Institute for Health Information provides a high-level summary of results from the Canadian Patient Experiences Survey – Inpatient Care captured in the Canadian Patient Experiences Reporting System. It examines how Canadian patients feel about how information was communicated and shared at different stages of their hospital stay. (Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Understanding the Implications of a Shifting Opioid Landscape in Ontario
North America is currently in the midst of an opioid overdose crisis, leading to changes in drug policy and clinical practice guideline recommendations. Data from Ontario's prescription monitoring program and the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario can be used to characterize changing prescription opioid trends and their role in fatal opioid overdoses. A better understanding of historical patterns of opioid use and overdose can help inform a more nuanced drug policy in the future. (Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
From the Editors
(Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - September 24, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Spontaneous, Grassroots Initiative Brings Niagara Health’s new Purpose, Vision and Values to Life
The purpose (or mission) of Niagara Health is Extraordinary Caring. Every Person. Every Time. Staff and physicians across the large, multi-site hospital organization are challenged to embrace this purpose in all of their day-to-day interactions. One Niagara Health team with no direct role in patient care (IT) spontaneously and independently created an Acts of Kindness campaign. They set a goal for the number of Acts of Kindness they would do and tracked the results. This simple response inspired 32 additional teams to launch similar initiatives, with more than 30,000 Acts of Kindness recorded and celebrated as of August 20...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
myHip&Knee: Improving Patient Engagement and Self-Management through Mobile Technology
Given the increasing volume of hip and knee replacement surgery with reduced hospital stays and resources, we explored technology to address gaps in patient care and enhance self-management. The team at the Holland Orthopaedic and Arthritic Centre of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, which performs a high volume of joint replacement surgery, partnered with patients and a health technology company to create a mobile app: myHip&Knee. The results to date demonstrate that the app improves patient experience and reduces follow-up calls to surgeons' offices, ultimately reducing demand on healthcare resources. Early enga...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Overall Quality Performance of Long-Term Care Homes in Ontario
This study (1) describes the overall quality performance of LTC homes across five years (2012–2017) and (2) determines if organizational factors impact quality performance. The results demonstrate significant, continuous sector-wide improvement in overall quality performance (as assessed by the Qindex) over time and significant differences in quality based on home size, operator size and ownership. This paper positions the Qindex, a global metric of quality, as a valuable tool for quality measurement and management in the LTC sector. (Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Commentary: Identifying the Underpinnings of “Care That Honours Seniors” in Alberta
In Alberta, the Network of Excellence in Seniors’ Health and Wellness was launched in 2013 to address the challenges and growing demands on the health system resulting from the aging population. To identify key considerations, the Network commenced a public outreach campaign using a survey to gather diverse opinions about “care that honours seniors.” (Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Establishing Effective Resident and Family Councils: A Pilot Project to Increase Family and Resident Engagement in Alberta’s Continuing Care Sites
Resident and family councils aim to improve resident and family satisfaction, but guidelines for councils are scarce. This project developed a toolkit and tested its ability, along with networking meetings, to promote successful councils. Nine continuing care sites participated with residents, family and staff from each site who received the toolkit, completed surveys, attended meetings and participated in post-pilot interviews. Participants found that the toolkit helped improve council function and, with the networking meetings, increased participation. All sites found the toolkit and networking meetings to be valuable re...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Keeping Long-Term Care Patients Out of Hospital During Acute Medical Illness: Proposal for Common Elements of an Integrated Healthcare Delivery System for Long-Term Care
Integration of acute and palliative care services for long-term care (LTC) residents reduces the morbidity and mortality associated with avoidable hospitalizations while contributing to healthcare system sustainability. This paper explores patient, provider and system factors contributing to potentially avoidable emergency room visits from LTC homes, based on our clinical and quality improvement work in the Greater Toronto Area and Calgary, as well as reviews the existing literature. Commonalities are used to identify key elements for developing an integrated healthcare delivery system to manage acute medical changes in LT...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Informing Primary Care Changes in Alberta: Continuity and Potential Impacts on Acute Care
Health systems across Canada are embarking on initiatives to enhance access to primary care services, with the intent of improving patient outcomes and mitigating escalating healthcare costs. However, it is important that such initiatives be carefully weighed with the evidence that the changes will indeed have the desired impact. In Alberta, part of the informative process involved an analysis to examine links between continuity with primary care and utilization of acute care services. The findings provide information regarding expectations for outcomes and potentially useful (and not so useful) measures for monitoring pro...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Canada’s Evolving Medicare: Patient-Centred Care
Canada's universal healthcare program, medicare, continues to evolve. An area of care that has gained increasing attention over the past several years is the general concept and specific components of patient centricity in healthcare delivery. This paper compares key measures of patient-centred care practices recorded in the 2013 and 2016 Health Care in Canada (HCIC) surveys, with the most recent preferences of the public and health professionals obtained in the 2018 HCIC survey, including priorities for improved future care. Timely access and caring care were the public's top-supported components of patient-centred care i...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Non-Adherence to Prescribed Therapies: Pharmacare’s Existential Challenge
Pharmacare, a recently proposed addition to Canada's universal medicare program, has become a prominent topic in the public discourse, but funding and leadership have not been established. Repeated Health Care in Canada (HCIC) surveys of the adult public and a broad spectrum of health professionals reveal very strong support for a national system that is easy to access and covers all prescribed pharmaceuticals. Although the practical details of universal pharmacare remain to be established, there is strong support among the public and professionals as well as increasing federal government interest in moving forward and ult...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Medicare’s Evolution: National Pharmacare and Shared Leadership
Repeated Health Care in Canada (HCIC) surveys over the past two decades have consistently reported that the adult public and clinical and administrative health professionals consider medicare to be successful in terms of quality of care, despite a growing concern that timely access to care remains challenging. These key stakeholders have also recently signalled that major change strategies are likely necessary for continuing success. In the 2018 survey, both the public and professionals ranked highest the creation of a national comprehensive pharmacare plan, entirely funded by the federal government, or with federal fundin...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Cutting Through the Ice …
The papers that follow are part of an honest, reasonable and serious attempt to build on an existing consensus at the basis of medicare, which guarantees that all Canadians can get medical attention when sick and hospital care when very sick (or injured). Without any exception, reform proposals that run counter to these principles are doomed to failure. However, it becomes harder and harder to ensure that costly and complex healthcare services can be "readily and timely" accessed without a radical shift in approaches. To say things otherwise, to keep what we cherish, we must embrace change, in the form of...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - July 31, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
