preview

Current State Of Home And Community Care Essay

Good Essays

Purpose The purpose of this briefing note is to outline the current state of Home and Community Care (H&CC) in Ontario and to recommend policy options to improve access to H&CC and to achieve the vision of a coordinated continuum of seniors’ care to the Ontario Lead of Senior Strategy. Background Under the authority of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC), the publicly funded home care services have been provided through the Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) and the Community Support Services through the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs). The H&CC services are identified, but the information on criteria for eligibility, the level or the standard of service is deficient [1]. The intent of Bill 210, presented by the MOHLTC Minister in June 2016, was to modify the current legislation to enhance LHINs’ authority over health service providers and take over the CCACs to provide H&CC. In October 2016, the Minister had to submit amendments to Bill 210, now Bill 41, to limit the initial proposed enhanced power of the LHINs [2]. While the bill 210 proposition could have had great potential for the integration of multidisciplinary services to improve the coordination of continuum of care, the bill did not get the required support, because it was imposed without consultation and the enhanced power of the LHINs was perceived as a threat to the healthcare self-governance [2]. The factors that have made care “closer to home” such a high priority for

Get Access