Ontario is set to introduce legislation Tuesday to transform the health-care system in the province. Health Minister Christine Elliott says there have been changes from a leaked draft version that the NDP revealed late last month. The draft bill showed that Ontario was planning a health "super agency," with the proposed legislation allowing the government to roll local health integration networks, Cancer Care Ontario, eHealth Ontario and other government health agencies under that umbrella. The NDP has warned that language in the draft bill allows for greater privatization in the health system. But Elliott has said the legislation will not include two-tier care, private hospitals, making patients pay for more services out of pocket, or privatizing services such as long-term care inspections and the air ambulance service. Leaked government documents show a new model of "integrated care delivery" is being created, called MyCare groups, intended to provide patients with seamless, co-ordinated care and a single team of providers for their care needs.<doc-sep>New health agency to be created in Ontario. Photo: Supplied Sweeping changes are on the way to the health-care system in Ontario. It’s expected that the Progressive Conservative government will introduce the changes today (Tuesday). Documents leaked to the NDP indicated the government plans to roll local health integration networks, Cancer Care Ontario, eHealth Ontario, and other government health agencies into a health-care super agency. NDP leader Andrea Horwath has warned the language in the draft bill allows for greater privatization in the health system. However, Health Minister Christine Elliot says changes have been made to the legislation from the draft.<doc-sep>TORONTO, Feb. 27, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ontario Health Coalition released its preliminary analysis of the new health care omnibus bill today. Health Coalition spokespeople expressed deep concerns about the legislation and the sweeping upheaval to come. The legislation that was made public yesterday is worse than the draft bill in significant ways: it requires even bigger mega-mergers; has less protections; the Minister’s new powers appear to be even more sweeping, and; it includes what appear to be unprecedented sweeping powers for Cabinet. “The Minister is trying to put a happy face on it by using words like ‘coordination’ and ‘teams’ ”, noted Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition who has served at the leadership level of the Health Coalition for more than 23-years through the Harris-era restructuring, the creation of the LHINs and the Wynne government restructuring. Under her leadership the Health Coalition has won public interest amendments to virtually every piece of health legislation introduced during the last 15 years. “But what is actually written in the legislation is that the Minister and the Ford government have given themselves vast new powers to order health service closures, transfers, mega-mergers, and the like, including powers to privatize and to facilitate the for-profit privatization of significant parts of our public and non-profit health care services.” The Minister has laid out what she says will happen with the legislation – voluntary “teams” of for-profit and non-profit health service providers will come together and will ultimately cover virtually all health services in the province. Even if that were the case – and to be clear, that is not what is articulated in the new law -- it is a real problem, reported Health Coalition Co-Chair Ross Sutherland, M.A., R.N. author and policy expert on laboratory privatization in Canada. “Even if the result out of years of mergers and integrations and transfers and so on was that there would be some sort of amalgam of all existing health services, who then oversees these providers in the public interest? No one. There is no public governance and just the far-away Super Agency for oversight.” He noted, adding, “The majority of the services to be merged are for-profit, dominated by highly-organized chain corporations, so there is real risk that the values and the tenets of the non-profit health system would be lost. It is hard to imagine how the public interest could be protected in such a scenario.” Furthermore, he noted, in every case where this type of conglomerate approach has been tried in Ontario, it has failed, citing private laboratories and home care experiments. “No one has been consulted on the government’s plan to give it and its political appointees that will run the new Super Agency wide reaching new powers virtually without any restrictions,” noted Sutherland. Furthermore, said Ms. Mehra, “Paltry as they were, virtually all the public interest protections in the LHINs legislation have been dropped along with any remaining democracy and local control in the health system,” citing examples such as the decision by the government to take out provisions regarding open Board Meetings, appeals, access to documents, community consultation and so on. “The power in the health system to snap up and take over local health care services will go to the large empire-building CEOs and large chain companies that will make proposals across the province to take over health care. The new powers that the government has given itself and its appointees to effect these changes include pressure up to and including hostile takeovers and coercive funding measures that are written into the legislation. There is no recourse to appeal, no public process, no public right to access to information, no public ability to give any meaningful feedback at all on these decisions. “The bottom line? This legislation neither directs the health system to meet the population’s need for care, nor does it improve any single service. It opens no new hospital beds. It does not make more surgeries happen. It does not provide a single new unit of mental health services, or home care or any other kind of care. It is all about new powers for certain people at the expense of the smaller or even medium-sized services, the care workers who will suffer years of upheaval, the community-based organizations, and the local say over our health care,” she concluded. The Health Coalition is planning town hall meetings across Ontario leading into a mass rally on April 30 at noon outside the Legislature. They are calling on the Ford government to hold public hearings on the new omnibus health care restructuring bill. The Ontario Health Coalition analysis of the legislation is on the webpage at www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca For more information: Natalie Mehra, executive director, 416-441-2502 (cell); Ross Sutherland 613-532-7846 (cell).<doc-sep>Ontario is merging 20 health agencies into one super agency and will establish local health teams to co-ordinate care as part of a system overhaul. Health Minister Christine Elliott announced the health-care transformation Tuesday at Bridgepoint Active Healthcare. The government intends to introduce legislation at Queen’s Park later in the day. Elliott said too much time is spent maintaining a fragmented system and far too many people believe it is the patient or family’s job to navigate the complicated landscape. “The value of our health care system is locked in silos,” Elliott said. “We are leaving Ontarians behind because we have a system that is disconnected.” A new agency, called Ontario Health, will consolidate local health integration networks, Cancer Care Ontario, eHealth Ontario and several other agencies. As well, Ontario Health Teams will be established to provide what Elliott calls seamless access to health services, including primary care, hospitals, home and community care, palliative care, residential long-term care, and mental health and addictions services. The teams would be responsible for delivering all of the care for their patients and connecting them to services. Elliott said the goal is to have 30 to 50 health teams set up, each responsible for up to 300,000 people. “The idea is to have Ontario Health be the agency that is responsible for coordinating the care,” Elliott said. The government said people will still be able to choose who provides their care, and more choices will be available through technology, such as giving patients an option to securely access their electronic health records and virtual care options. “The system will be based on our public model. People do not need to fear. They will continue to pay for their health care services using their OHIP card,” Elliott said. Watch Elliott’s full announcement below. President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association Anthony Dale said they were excited by the news and the opportunities it presents. He said Monday’s announcement allows, “the local healthcare provider community, for the first time in a very long time, to work together to deal with local healthcare needs without oversight by a third party and without nearly as much red tape as there is today.” “it’s about reducing the amount of unnecessary third-party oversight that’s clogging the ability of the system to deal in a hands-on way with the healthcare needs of individual patients,” explained Dale. In terms of cost savings, Elliott said the new health plan will save money down the road. However, it is not clear whether the new health plan would lead to layoffs. Background materials from the government said that Ontario Health would eliminate “duplicative back office infrastructure and administration.” When asked how many fewer staff there would be under Ontario Health, Elliott said: “That is something we can’t answer right now because of the fact that it is going to be up to the local Ontario health teams to structure the care that’s going to be needed in that local area.” When asked about possible layoffs, Dale said, “Change is imminent in the agencies, I think the people who work there know it.” “But there are a lot of amazing, very hard-working people with a lot of expertise to add, and the minister, what I heard her say, is she wants to help them focus their efforts in supporting patients and clinicians in patient care, and I think that’s a pretty powerful motivation for those people,” he added. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she fears the changes will open the door to greater privatization of services. “This morning’s press conference did not allay our concerns about opening up our public health care system to private, for profit, motivated corporations,” she said. The Ontario Health Coalition said it would fight any attempt to privatize the public non-profit health services, while the Canadian Union of Public Employees said it will begin escalating actions across the province to push the government to reconsider the changes. “This dangerous Ford government reboot of our public health system must be stopped before patient care and safety fall victim to the gaps, holes and pitfalls this massive overhaul will create,” said CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn. But the changes had some supporters in the health care sector, including the associations representing the province’s doctors, registered nurses and hospitals. Dr. Nadia Alam, president of the Ontario Medical Association, welcomed the proposed changes, saying patients are currently struggling to get the care that they need. “If we can do anything to make that easier it’s a good day,” she said. The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario said they’re optimistic that the government plan will divert money from middle management in the health bureaucracy to front line care. “I think some of those organizations, quite frankly, have ballooned in terms of staffing,” said CEO Doris Grinspun. “I think what they need is a very clear mandate.” University of Toronto Professor Raisa Deber shares her thoughts on what the province’s reform plans will mean for patient care in Ontario. Watch below.<doc-sep>
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press TORONTO -- Ontario is set to introduce legislation Tuesday to transform the health-care system in the province. A leaked draft version of the bill that the NDP revealed late last month showed that Ontario was planning a health "super agency," with the proposed legislation allowing the government to roll local health integration networks, Cancer Care Ontario, eHealth Ontario and other government health agencies under that umbrella. There have been changes since then, Health Minister Christine Elliott said Monday, though she didn't say how extensive. "This is something that we have thought about long and hard," she said. "It's going to significantly reduce hallway medicine by making sure that people find the care that they need. What we really need to do is focus our health care system on the patient. That's what the centre of all of this is about." The concept of a super agency is unlikely to have fallen by the wayside, as it was baked into nearly every element of the draft bill and three board members have already been appointed. The NDP has warned that language in the draft bill allows for greater privatization in the health system. But Elliott has said the legislation will not include two-tier care, private hospitals, making patients pay for more services out of pocket, or privatizing services such as long-term care inspections and the air ambulance service. Leaked government documents have shown a new model of "integrated care delivery" is being created, called MyCare groups, intended to provide patients with seamless, co-ordinated care and a single team of providers for their care needs. There are slated to be 30-50 MyCare groups across the province, with up to 10 early adopter sites being set up in the spring, according to the documents. Another document listed risks in the plan, including "service disruption and capacity to manage and oversee (local health integration network) functions during transition period," as well as potential labour disruption with unionized care co-ordinators at the networks.