Report Provides Recommendations on Building a Sustainable Health Care System
The Voice of Canada News:
The Premier’s Council on Improving Healthcare and Ending Hallway Medicine today released its second report, providing advice on how to build a modern, sustainable and integrated health care system and solve the problem of hallway medicine.
“The Council is encouraged by the government’s vision and progress being made to build a connected and sustainable public health care system in Ontario,” said Special Advisor and Chair of the Council Dr. Rueben Devlin. “By speaking with Ontarians from across the province, the Council has heard support and enthusiasm for meaningful change in health care.”
Developed in consultation with more than 1,500 health care providers, patients and caregivers, the Council’s report – A Healthy Ontario: Building a Sustainable Health Care System – provides advice and makes key recommendations focused on:
Integration – Putting patients at the centre of all interactions within the health care system, making it easier to access and navigate the system while providing better digital access to personal health information.
Innovation – Improving options for health care delivery with more virtual care options, modernizing the home care sector and providing a more flexible mix of health care and community supports.
Efficiency and Alignment – Strengthening partnerships between health and social services and providing open and transparent data to improve health outcomes.
Capacity – Addressing wait times for specialist and community care by maximizing existing assets and skills, making strategic investments in health care, designing financial incentives to promote better health outcomes for patients and populations and championing collaborative and interprofessional leadership.
The Council will provide advice on the development of Ontario Health Teams and the Ontario Health agency, which are key components of the government’s plan to modernize and integrate health care. Future reports from the Council will focus on the progress being made in delivering better health care services and recommendations on long-term planning for the health care system.
“Health care should be organized around each patient’s individual needs,” said Dr. Devlin. “Health providers must work collaboratively, and services should be more readily available and accessible within our communities. These are the changes that matter to Ontarians and this is what the health care system of the future should look like.”
