Investment update
The Manitoulin Health Centre (MHC) board heard an update from Steven Smith, vice-president of the private client group at Beutel-Goodman Investment Council. This is the company that manages MHC’s investments.
Since joining the fund 13 years ago, the average annualized return has been approximately 6.27 percent, representing an approximate doubling of the starting value from 13 years ago.
ONE initiative update
MHC president and CEO Lynn Foster offered an update as to progress for the one patient, one record, one system initiative. This is a direction implemented by the Northeast Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) to standardize patient record-keeping under the hospital information system.
The initiative would result in improved patient care and safety through closed medication administration systems, resulting in reduced medication errors and more efficient workflows. Patients and care providers would also have electronic access to patient health information and the data therein could be used to drive analytics, business intelligence and research.
Potential savings across several categories range from five to 75 percent of current spending, which will help to offset the costs of implementing ONE.
Northeast LHIN’s system is based on the IBM Meditech 6.1 system. The first three test hospitals in the region (North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Parry Sound) are scheduled to go live in November 2019. There will be a second wave for the other 21 hospitals in the LHIN with implementation dates targeted between October 2020 and April 2022.
Annual operating costs of ONE are $550,000, plus $1.9 million over two years in investments needed to support the system. Current annual savings are estimated at $290,000 meaning the cost of ONE will be an additional $260,000 per year than current figures under the old system.
President and CEO’s report
Architectural sketches of the Mindemoya site renovation and expansion project are posted at that location to get feedback from physicians and clinicians. The senior hospital team is also completing the business case of bringing a computed tomography (CT) scanner to the Island.
Talks and applications are underway for the new Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) under the Ford government’s revised healthcare system. Both the Manitoulin Collaborative (a group of healthcare providers on Manitoulin including MHC, Noojmowin Teg Health Centre, Mnaamodzawin Health Services, Wikwemikong Health Centre and M’Chigeeng Health Services) and Greater Sudbury are working on applying to become OHTs.
MHC has received its funding letter from the Northeast LHIN. MHC is receiving $563,000 in new base funding. Of that total, one percent of the current base—or $158,000—is a general growth increase. The remaining $405,000 must be used towards ‘transformation’ projects.
VP clinical services and chief nursing officer’s report
Patient-Orientated Discharge Summaries (PODS) will be rolled out by the end of May. This is a communication tool designed by Health Quality Ontario and provides patients with appropriate and understandable information they need after being discharged from hospital. The information will also be available to continuing care providers to ensure they offer the most appropriate services.
Informal reports are indicating MHC’s successful application for an Island-wide mobile mental health crisis service. A formal funding letter is still pending.
Consent agenda discussion
The board discussed moving to a ‘consent agenda,’ or one that would group all items that do not require discussion into one item that could be approved in one motion. Some board members expressed concern that it would mean missing out on valuable information that only arises when committees or executives are discussing their recent work.
Board member Derek Debassige proposed running a trial period of four meetings under the consent agenda scheme, with reporting back to follow in order to gather feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the format. This will enable the board to decide whether it would want to continue with the system.
