Ontario Investing to Reduce Surgical Wait Times in Eastern Ontario
2022-11-25
The Ontario government is funding the implementation of a new, innovative software across hospitals in Eastern Ontario that will help reduce surgical backlogs in the region.
This innovative first-in-Ontario surgical waitlist HUB, built by Novari Health, consolidates patients waiting for surgery into a real-time regional wait list system using interactive mapping and analytics tools. The HUB, which will improve the coordination of surgical services between hospitals in Eastern Ontario, means patients may be able to receive their surgery sooner at a different hospital. In addition to this regional HUB, technology built by Ontario Health will also improve waitlist management across the province.
“Integrating this made-in-Ontario software in hospitals across Eastern Ontario will mean shorter wait times for patients awaiting surgery and a more efficient use of hospital resources,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “This is an excellent example of the innovation we are calling for, all with the goal of improving our health system and creating a better experience for the patient.”
The software, in collaboration with hospitals across the region – will integrate with existing hospital IT systems to gain an overall picture of backlogs, speed up wait times and help identify bottlenecks at various stages of the surgical process.
Quick Facts:
- All region hospitals that
perform adult surgeries will be included in the Champlain Centralized
Regional Surgical Waitlist Management “HUB” initiative. Hospitals and
their individual surgical wait lists are being onboarded in phases.
- The initial phase included
Hôpital Montfort, Queensway Carleton Hospital and Cornwall Community
Hospital.
- In the coming weeks, The
Ottawa Hospital and Hawkesbury & District General Hospital will be
onboarded. Once these hospitals are live on the system, they will be
joined by:
- Almonte General Hospital
- Arnprior and District
Memorial Hospital
- Carleton Place and District
Memorial
- Deep River and District
Hospital
- Glengarry Memorial Hospital
- Kemptville District
Hospital
- Ottawa Heart Institute
- Pembroke Regional Hospital
- Renfrew Victoria Hospital
- Winchester District
Memorial Hospital
- Through the provincial
Centralized Waitlist Management (CWM) program, Ontario has provided
funding to hospitals across the Ottawa region since 2020-21 to support a
complex, multiyear transformation initiative aimed at establishing a
regional central intake, with an initial focus on endoscopy. The region’s
implementation of the Novari platform is one component of that broader
regional initiative.
- The CWM program was
established in 2020-21 as part of provincial surgical recovery efforts
arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Investments in the CWM
program are providing funding for regionally led projects across the
province that support enhanced load balancing of surgical cases and
reductions in patient wait times, as well as for Ontario Health’s
development of the technical infrastructure required to support
centralized waitlist management at the provincial level.
- The HUB enabling technology
is being provided by Kingston Ontario based Novari Health, a digital
health company focusing on systems that improve access to care.
- Ontario is investing over
$300 million in 2022–23 as part of the province’s surgical recovery
strategy, bringing the total investment to approximately $880 million over
the last three fiscal years.