Page 15 - CEO Orientation

mandates, such as Patients First: Action Plan for Health Care and Health System Funding Reform to help
break down siloes and improve patient care. In 2004, Local Health Integration Networks were also
created with a mandate to support voluntary integration among health-care providers. Most recently,
the Patients First Act, 2016 was introduced to broaden the scope of the LHINs from hospitals, long-term
care and mental health to now include primary, home and community care. The need for, and benefits
of, integration are clear at both a system and local level.

2.2 A NEW HEALTH NETWORK DELIVERING HIGH QUALITY, SAFE CARE
The new health network will further enhance access and improve quality and patient safety through
our shared commitments and the services we each provide: primary care, secondary community care,
tertiary care, quaternary care services, and post-acute through rehabilitation, palliative care and long-
term care. In the new health network, the needs of our patients will be better met by improving
outcomes through a partnership that offers a broader spectrum of care, both within and across our
respective organizations, as well as by building upon existing examples of coordinated care with each
other and with our existing community partners.

As Catholic health organizations, we share a common mission centred on caring for the most
marginalized or those who experience disadvantage. We will continue to build on our existing
commitment and further advance health equity and system-wide innovation through our shared
expertise within the new health network.

The benefits of this integration have been articulated through the lenses of:

1. Improving care for patients, residents, clients and their families through shared expertise; and
2. Harmonizing best practices and services to support care throughout the network;
3. Improving population health through an increased focus on community partnerships

Improving care for patients, residents, clients and their families through shared expertise
Working together and sharing our collective expertise across a network of care will provide a more
seamless continuum of care to those we serve. We will enable consultative approaches within the
network to focus bi-directionally through primary care, acute, post-acute, residential and community
care. Between our three organizations, we will build on each other’s strengths; for example, in Mental
Health and Addictions, Rehabilitation, Dialysis and Palliative Care, to name a few. We will also leverage
our full spectrum of care to advance alternate level of care (ALC) avoidance and ensure that care is
delivered to our patients at the right place, at the right time and by the right providers.

System fragmentation will be reduced by enabling interventions earlier in the patient’s journey. For
example, rehabilitation specialists from Providence would reach out to St. Joseph’s and St. Michael’s to
become involved earlier in the patient’s journey and support care planning that optimally prepares
patients for rehabilitation and potential early transition – whether to Providence, to other health service
providers or to home.

Our Shared Purpose: Advancing the Health of Our Patients and Our Urban Communities Page | 7