Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network [Archive]

UrbanWaterloo

07-30-2010, 06:41 AM

Four WWLHIN Hospitals Receive Funding to Help Reduce ED Wait Times
CMH and GGH Announced as First-Time Participants
Guelph | July 29, 2010 | http://www.waterloowellingtonlhin.on.ca/Newsroom.aspx

Four hospitals in the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (WWLHIN) will receive funding as part of the province’s $100 million investment through the Emergency Department (ED) Pay for Results (P4R) initiative. This is the third year the province is providing funding to hospitals to meet specific targets and reduce the time patients spend in the ED. Seventy-one hospitals across the province will receive funding.

Locally, Cambridge Memorial (CMH), Grand River (GRH), Guelph General (GGH) and St. Mary’s General (SMGH) Hospitals will receive funding. CMH and GGH are receiving funding for the first time through this initiative and get $782,100 and $776,000 respectively. GRH, which has received funding in each of the three years of the program, has been allocated $935,400 for this year and SMGH, participating for the second year, receives $764,500.

SMGH was one of seven hospitals in the province that received a one-time performance bonus for exceeding expectations as part of the Pay for Results initiative in 2009 - 2010. They received $530,000 for achieving a 23 per cent wait time improvement for all ED patients over the previous year. SMGH patients are waiting on average 1 hour and 20 minutes less in the ED to be treated, compared to last year.

The WWLHIN hospitals were selected to be the first across the province to participate in the ED Process Improvement Program (PIP). PIP focuses on change management, LEAN principles (customized for health care) and streamlining and improving procedures and processes to reduce ED wait times and improve patient satisfaction.

QUOTES

“The hospitals in Waterloo Wellington have demonstrated tremendous leadership in their commitment to reducing ED wait times,” said Sandra Hanmer, CEO, WWLHIN. “By working together and accepting the challenge to implement ways to improve the delivery of emergency care, wait times in the WWLHIN for all patients decreased by 15% in 2009 - 2010 over the previous fiscal year.”
“A key item for this year’s P4R is monies allocated for increasing human resources in the ED, either doctors or nurse practitioners (NP),” Dr. Aaron Smith, WWLHIN ED Lead says. “This supports improvement in the time a patient waits to actually see a doctor or NP.”
"The McGuinty government is committed to reducing Emergency Department wait times and providing quality care for Ontario residents," said Liz Sandals, MPP for Guelph. "I am pleased that Guelph General Hospital will be participating in the Pay for Results program to reduce emergency wait times in Guelph."
“The Pay for Results program will help us build on our recent efforts to lower wait times in our ED,” says Richard Ernst, President and CEO, GGH. “We made significant progress in the past year but there are still opportunities for improvement. We will monitor the performance indicators that will objectively measure our results and help move us closer to the provincial targets.”
“We will use this investment to improve our internal structures and processes,” said President & CEO Patrick Gaskin, CMH. “Our success around this project means timely, quality care for patients in our community and better utilization of available resources within our organization. This investment will enable us to monitor, review, evaluate and make recommendations to ensure the deliverables and outcomes associated with it are met.”
“Congratulations to the frontline ED staff at our three Waterloo Region hospitals for achieving these results. Reducing ED wait times is an important component of our government's overall plan to deliver quality and timely health care services. This is a tremendous achievement and I thank the three ED teams for their continued dedication to providing efficient and innovative patient care,” said John Milloy, MPP, Kitchener Centre.
“Reducing Emergency Department wait times will improve patient satisfaction and enhance confidence in our health care system,” said Leeanna Pendergast, MPP for Kitchener-Conestoga. "Through the Pay for Results program, we are helping hospitals in Waterloo Region take steps to reduce wait times in emergency rooms and also provide people with alternatives to hospital care wherever appropriate.”
QUICK FACTS

There are eight hospital corporations in Waterloo Wellington with EDs at seven sites. Between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010, there were 248,266 visits to the EDs in Waterloo Wellington.

Backgrounder: Emergency Department – Pay for Results

Pay for Results WWLHIN Funding – 2010 - 2011
WWLHIN Hospital | Total P4R Funding
Cambridge Memorial Hospital | $782,100
Grand River Hospital | $935,400
Guelph General Hospital | $776,000
St. Mary’s General Hospital | $764,500
TOTAL | $3,258,000

In 2009 - 2010, GRH received $1,330,400 and SMGH received $1,059,900 through P4R. In 2008 - 2009, GRH received $1,243,600 through P4R.

Indicators for ED Wait times
The amount of time a patient spends in the Emergency Department is referred to as “Total Time Spent in the ED” and is measured from the time patients register or initially see a triage nurse, until the time they leave the ED. The time patients leave the ED may be when they are sent home after being treated or when they are admitted to a hospital bed, if medically necessary. The 90th percentile refers to the maximum amount of time in which 9 out of 10 patients have completed their ED visit.

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* - The WWLHIN hospitals included in this indicator are: CMH, GRH, GGH, SMGH, Groves Memorial Community Hospital.
● - Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) is a system assigning level of severity of illness to patients who go to the ED for care, with 1 being the most seriously ill patients and 5 being less seriously ill patients.