St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and St. Joseph’s Home Care to lead expansion of Integrated Comprehensive Care Model Across the HNHB LHIN
Dr. Stewart Pugsley, St, Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Dr. Kevin Smith, CEO, St. Joseph's Health System, Anna Tran, Care Coordinator, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Dr. David Higgins, President, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Eleanor McMahon MPP Burlington, Minister Eric Hoskins, Ralph Mason, Dr. Yaron Shargall, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and Helen Mason.
On September 2nd, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and St. Joseph’s Home Care welcomed Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Dr. Eric Hoskins, who made a special announcement about expanding access to care in the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant (HNHB) Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).
Known as the Integrated Comprehensive Care (ICC) project developed by St. Joseph’s Health System, it demonstrates an innovative model of care that directly integrates hospital and home and community care services for patients. Minister Hoskins described the ICC project as a vision for the future of care delivery in the province of Ontario by providing a “bundled” approach to health care that aims to guide patients throughout their entire medical treatment.
“These new bundled care teams will make it easier for patients to transition out of hospital and to receive the care they need at home, where we know they’d rather be,” said Health Minister Hoskins. “This kind of care puts patients first by organizing their care team around the specific needs of a patient, delivering better access and better outcomes.”
Since 2012, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and St. Joseph’s Home Care (both members of St. Joseph’s Health System), have been collaborating on this important initiative by providing care to the Lung and Esophageal Cancer Programs, Total Joint Replacements, as well as for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton will lead the expansion of St. Joseph’s Health System’s ICC model for COPD and CHF across all HNHB LHIN acute care hospitals, while St. Joseph’s Home Care is the project’s leading Home Care Agency for the HNHB LHIN.
“We have been privileged to contribute to the provincial integrated funding model through the success of the Integrated Comprehensive Care project, and are honoured to work with our partners to extend this model in a way that works best locally for them and throughout the province,” states Dr. Kevin Smith, President and CEO, St. Joseph’s Health System.
The project connects a patient with one Integrated Care Coordinator before, during and after their hospital stay. The Care Coordinator is the link between hospital specialists, but also connects with necessary service providers in the community, that can include a variety of staff including nurses, therapists, personal support workers, but also connects with necessary service providers in the community from home care to palliative care. The use of mobile technology such as tablets allows the teams to communicate with patients at home and cuts down on unnecessary trips to hospital.
Since inception, the ICC model has resulted in shortened hospital stays, improved patient satisfaction and fewer readmissions to the emergency department. The expansion of the ICC model will transform patient care across the HNHB LHIN, providing an innovative, patient-centered, bundled approach to health care.
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To view photos from the announcement click here.