Ontario Health (agency)

Not to be confused with Ministry of Health (Ontario) or Ontario Health Insurance Plan.
Ontario Health
Santé Ontario
Agency overview
Preceding agencies
TypeCrown agency
JurisdictionGovernment of Ontario
HeadquartersToronto, Ontario
Minister responsible
Agency executives
  • Matthew Anderson, President and Chief Executive Officer
  • Bill Hatanaka, Chair
Parent ministryMinistry of Health
Key document
Websitewww.ontariohealth.ca

Ontario Health (OH; French: Santé Ontario) is a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario. Described as a "super agency",[1][2] Ontario Health oversees much of the administration of the Ontario healthcare system, with the stated goal of integrating services split between organizations.[3]

Background

Introduced by the Progressive Conservative (PC) government of Premier Doug Ford, as the Health Program Initiatives,[4] the agency's mandate is defined in the Connecting Care Act, 2019,[5] and through memorandums of understanding, mandate and strategic priorities letters and other documents from the ministry of health.[1][6][7]

The agency is to absorb and administer or has absorbed and administers several components of the Ontario healthcare system, including:[8][2][9]

Services such as human resources and communications will be centralized in the new agency.

Financial impact

The province expects to save $350 million a year by 2021–22,[11] but University of Ottawa professor Doug Angus cautioned that a similar approach was introduced in Alberta, which has the highest per capita healthcare spending in the country.[12] The New Democratic Party also raised concerns, with Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) France Gelinas noting that "In British Columbia and in Alberta, health centralization wasted billions of dollars".[13]

Healthcare spending was heavily debated during the Ontario 2018 election, with Ford's Conservatives committing to end "hallway health care".[14][15] However, the introduction of the Ontario Health Agency has also been criticized in the National Post by Randall Denley—a former provincial Conservative politician who ran in 2011 and 2014—as wasting "time, money and energy on reshaping the health bureaucracy" rather than "specific solutions to well-identified problems."[16]

Ontario Health Teams

The agency will introduce 50 to 70 Ontario Health Teams (OHTs), which would connect groups of healthcare services in "clusters" so that a patient could access services and replace much of the role that the existing 14 local health integration networks play.[1][17][18][19]

Role

OHTs are voluntary collaborations between health service providers. In their applications for designation as OHT’s, the potential teams must describe how they will integrate services for a regional population and how they will ensure “warm handovers” for patients making transitions in the system.[17][20]

Criticism

The introduction of OHTs has been criticized for lack of direction from the Ministry of Health, making it unclear the role they will play in delivering or standardizing services. Critics say the government has been overly vague in defining a role for OHTs and question the effectiveness of overseeing over 50 different OHTs, saying it will be overly complex compared to the previous system of 14 LHINs, as well as eliminating their regional focus.[21][22][23] Bob Bell, a former physician and University Health Network CEO who served as deputy health minister, who claims that "Given the lack of clear direction coming from the ministry, OHTs seem at risk of creating a fragmented, chaotic approach to provincial health service planning",[20] specifically questioning the effect they will have on home-care services, which were previously standardized under the LHIN system, stating: "work done in developing a standard provincial foundation for homecare will be lost".[18][12][24]

Governance

Presidents and chief executive officers
No. Name Start date End date Minister Reference
1 Matthew Anderson February 1, 2020 incumbent Christine Elliot [25][26]
Board chairs
No. Name Start date End date Minister Reference
1 Bill Hatanaka February 2019 incumbent Christine Elliot [27][28][29][4]

Transparency concerns

The government was criticized for the lack of consultation when introducing the Ontario Health Agency.[24]

Concerns were raised regarding the agency's board meetings, which were initially held with no advance notice or invitation to the public. While open meetings were a legislative requirement for local health integration networks, no such legislation compels Ontario Health to hold open meetings.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Herhalt, Chris (2019-02-26). "What changes under Ontario Health super agency and how long it could take". CP24. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  2. ^ a b Crawley, Mike (2019-02-26). "Ford government creating Ontario Health super-agency".
  3. ^ "Massive health-care overhaul called 'biggest change' since medicare". The Hamilton Spectator. 2019-02-27. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  4. ^ a b c "Questions raised about transparency as board of new health super agency meets in secret". thestar.com. 2019-03-13. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  5. ^ "Law Document English View". 24 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Opinion | Ontario's new plan for health care echoes past prescriptions". thestar.com. 2019-02-27. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  7. ^ "Accountability Framework". www.ontariohealth.ca. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Introducing Ontario's new health care super power". The Hamilton Spectator. 2019-07-22. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  9. ^ "Transfer Orders | Ontario Health". www.ontariohealth.ca. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  10. ^ "Transfer Order — Ontario Telemedicine Network | Transfer Orders for Ontario Health | ontario.ca".
  11. ^ "New Ontario Health super agency names president and CEO". Global News. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  12. ^ a b Kupfer, Matthew (2019-01-19). "Losing LHINs could reduce local power over health services, experts say".
  13. ^ "Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas calls on Conservatives to keep Cancer Care Ontario". 2019-03-28.
  14. ^ "Hallway health care 'getting worse instead of better': Horwath". thepeterboroughexaminer.com. 2020-01-23. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  15. ^ "'We're doing everything we can' to end hallway medicine, says Premier Doug Ford". 25 January 2020.
  16. ^ Denley, Randall (February 2019). "Randall Denley: So-called 'super agency' not a magic cure for Ontario's health-care woes". National Post. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  17. ^ a b "New Ontario Health agency would overhaul 'disconnected' medical system, minister says". thestar.com. 2019-02-26. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  18. ^ a b "Opinion | Is homecare at risk with the creation of Ontario Health Teams?". thestar.com. 2019-09-10. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  19. ^ Crawley, Mike (2019-03-01). "What you need to know about Ontario's new model for health care".
  20. ^ a b "Opinion | Are Ontario Health Teams designed for failure?". thestar.com. 2019-09-03. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  21. ^ "Opinion | Ontario Health Team application reveals complexities in running new system". thestar.com. 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  22. ^ "How Ontario's new regional health teams will operate is anyone's guess in 'low-rules environment'". Ontario Health Coalition. 2019-07-25. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  23. ^ "Opinion | The elimination of regional leadership in Ontario's health system". thestar.com. 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  24. ^ a b Draaisma, Muriel (2019-02-05). "Health super agency to be created by Ontario could do 'real harm,' expert says".
  25. ^ "Matthew Anderson appointed President and CEO of Ontario Health" (PDF).
  26. ^ Health, Ontario. "Matthew Anderson appointed President and CEO of Ontario Health". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  27. ^ "Bill Hatanaka | Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre". jccc.on.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  28. ^ "Appointee Biographies - Public Appointments Secretariat". www.pas.gov.on.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  29. ^ "Bill Hatanaka ICD.D".