Bundled Care Across Ontario
St. Joseph’s Integrated Comprehensive Care (ICC) Project was as an example used by Dr. Eric Hoskins, Minister of Health, when discussing ways for Ontario to provide bundled care for the benefit of the “patient’s full-care pathway.” St. Joe’s has developed a model that provides a patient with a case coordinator who organizes their care from the moment they are referred to the hospital, until their rehabilitation is complete. Since March 2012, ICC project has been used with patients who have had lung cancer, joint replacement surgery, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, and congestive heart failure.
Health Minister Hoskins is encouraging other hospitals across Ontario to create their own pilot projects with the mentorship of St. Joseph’s, in order to create ways to integrate different parts of the health care system. About 10 other hospitals will be chosen to receive up to $525,000 to establish a project that will have one bundle of funding, regardless of who is providing the care.
"We're thrilled to be asked by Minister Hoskins to work with his Ministry to expand this and similar models of care — to break down the silos and make the patient journey as smooth and easy as possible," said St. Joseph's CEO Kevin Smith.
"St. Joseph's Health System has been a leader in bundled care," said Hoskins in a statement. "Instead of having a patient actively seek out every single aspect of their care independently, we can make sure that all of the necessary providers from surgeons to nurses, physiotherapists and personal support workers are all provided together and paid together as one bundled price to be integral parts of a patient's full-care pathway."
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