Stressing her government's commitment to universal access to healthcare, Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care has announced a new health agency.
Ontarians will get more details in the coming months about the new super-agency, Ontario Health, but MInister Christine Elliott told an audience in Toronto it would end hallway medicine and bring healthcare providers together in a way the current system does not.
"Right now, care is fragmented. Patients, families, and caregivers experience frequent gaps in care and have to reiterate their health concerns over, and over again because of a lack of digital tools and care continuity," she explained. "For healthcare providers, they are each paid out of different funding envelops and are discouraged from working together in teams."
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Elliott said over the past five years, Ontario's administrative health costs have risen 30 per cent over the Canadian average, while more than 1,000 patients languish in hospital hallways every day, and average wait times to get into a long-term care home have ballooned by 300 per cent since 2003.
Right now, Ontario has a network of 1,800 health service provider organizations. The new agency would integrate those agencies under the new Ontario Health.
She said for patients, transitioning from one healthcare provider to another would be seamless and easy.
"With safeguards in place, of course, to protect information, patients would have an opportunity to securely access digital health services, such as making online appointments, talking to a specialist virtually, or having access to your own electronic health records," said Elliott.
The new patient-centric approach is paired with new investments in long-term care for seniors and improved mental health and addiction services. A release from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care said $3.8 billion would be invested over ten years to increase long-term care beds by 15,000 and beds for mental health and addiction treatment by 30,000.
"Ontario Health will begin to take shape this spring, but I do want to stress this is not going to happen overnight," said Elliott. "It's going to take time to bring these agencies together to form a new and more effective organization."
The government intends to introduce legislation soon to establish local Ontario Health Teams under the new agency.