Faster and more convenient access to diagnostics helps reduce avoidable hospital visits
TORONTO — The Ontario government is connecting long-term care residents to the right care in the right place by investing nearly $10 million to help long-term care homes offer residents more diagnostic services onsite, instead of travelling to a hospital. This work is part of Ontario’s Your Health Plan for Connected and Convenient Care to improve residents’ quality of life and reduce avoidable emergency department visits and hospital stays.
“By connecting residents to faster and more convenient diagnostic services, we are helping connect residents to the care they need, when and where they need it,” said Stan Cho, Minister of Long-Term Care. “This will help to reduce avoidable emergency department visits and hospital stays, increase the services available at long-term care homes, and improve residents’ quality of life.”
Starting today, Ontario is launching the new Equipment and Training Fund to help long-term care homes purchase more diagnostic equipment and train staff so that they can better manage and treat residents’ conditions that most often lead to preventable hospital visits, such as urinary tract infections, falls, pneumonia and congestive heart failure.
Ontario is also increasing residents’ access to routine and urgent laboratory services such as blood work in the comfort of their homes by increasing reimbursements to long-term care homes that connect residents to faster, more convenient access to care through mobile community lab services.
Later this fall, Ontario will significantly expand the Nurse-Led Outreach Teams program into additional long-term care homes in underserved areas of the province. This innovative model of care will conveniently connect more residents to in-person and virtual consultations with a specialized team of nurse practitioners and registered nurses. These teams will also work together with emergency departments and long-term care homes to coordinate timely and rapid diagnostic services for residents.
These new initiatives build on Ontario’s two pilot projects with Humber River Hospital in Toronto and Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie that are increasing residents’ access to more diagnostic imaging services, such as x-rays and ultrasounds. These projects are helping residents avoid emergency department visits by directly coordinating their appointments for diagnostic imaging services in the hospital.
The government is fixing long-term care to ensure Ontario’s seniors get the quality of care and quality of life they need and deserve, both now and in the future. The plan is built on four pillars: staffing and care; quality and enforcement; building modern, safe and comfortable homes; and connecting seniors with faster, more convenient access to the services they need.