(S.19) Wait Times: Case Study Flashcards
What constitutes a ‘wait time’?
Time between being referred - presumably from a primary care physician or a practitioner - to seeing a specialist
When are wait times a problem
Jeopardizes health = some people may not be affected by waiting long, others will
What causes wait times?
○ Lack of staff
○ Appropriate care - ER for something small
○ Disorganization, inefficiency
Wait times
when the demand for treatment exceeds the supply, either due to lack of capacity or inefficient use of existing capacity
Ontario Health tracks 2 waiting times
○ Time from referral to First Clinician Appointment
○ Time from Decision to Surgery
Problem with wait times
- People may die from lack of urgent care
- Diseases may rapidly progress (waiting for surgeries, MRIs, diagnostics .etc)
T or F: Canadians were more likely to receive care within 4 hours at the emergency department compared with CMWF average (11 other countries)
F: less likely
Respondents in ______ communities were more likely to wait longer than _____
rural wait longer than urban
More Canadians waited longer for ____ appointments and ____ surgeries compared with CMWF average
specialist appointments
elective surgeries
___% of respondents who wanted mental health care in the past year received it
43%
___/____ canadians reported they had wanted to talk to a doctor or other health professional about their mental health in the past year
1/5
T or F: people in healthcare rank fixing wait times = one of the most important care issues
T
Ministry of Health refers to who as “long-waiters”
Waiting longer than clinical guidelines for their health problem allows harm
Massively increasing aging population requires increase in _____
beds
the FAO projects that the Province’s health sector spending plan has a net funding shortfall over the six-year period from 2022-23 to 2027-28 of $21.3 billion, meaning:
shortfall = Province has not allocated sufficient funds to the health sector to support existing programs and announced commitments
Policy Solutions to wait times
*Ontario’s Wait Time Strategy (2004)
*Mandatory reporting of wait times
*Setting benchmarks
Ontario’s Wait Time Strategy (2004)
- Strategy created by provincial government (2004 to tackle wait times)
- Provides funding to hospitals to provide additional wait list surgeries, MRIs, and CTs
- As a condition of funding, hospitals must supply and verify their wait times information to the ‘Wait Times Information System’
‘Wait Times Information System’
○ Policy that required hospitals to disclose their wait times (surgical specialists, surgeries, diagnostic imaging, emergency departments
*condition of funding for Ontario’s Wait Time Strategy
Mandatory reporting of wait times does 4 things …
- MEASURES the problem
- TRACKS the problem over time
- Enhances ACCOUNTABILITY for addressing the problem
- REDIRECTS patients to shorter wait lists via patient choice
Benchmarks
Targets representing the maximum amount of time a patient should wait, beyond which evidence shows adverse health effects will likely occur
T or F: Government mandated legislation for the creation of benchmark targets, mandatory tracking, and reporting of wait times in psychiatry were passed in Ontario in 2001
F: do not currently exist in Ontario
Alternative policy solutions
- Eliminate inappropriate tests and treatments
- Not giving antibiotics for viral infections
- Recruit/increase pay for key human resources
- Don’t have enough PSW’s/nurses
- Incentivise with higher pay, train more people .etc
*Increase after-hours care
- Open ER/walk-ins after hours so people get treated then
*Pay-for-performance
- More $$ if they’re doing well, incentivizes other hospitals to find inefficiencies they may not have cared to find before
*Activity-based funding
- Provincial decision: instead of getting 100% of global funding, 70% can be used wherever but 30% must be spent on particular things
*Integrated funding models
- Set amount of $$$, work with resources they have
- Makes all care/professionals work together, ensuring resources aren’t being wasted
*Establish centralized intake of patients
- Establish resources of province and rank urgency
- Some regions have many resources but no referrals: may be able to send patients out of town
Proposal to extend family Dr. residency from 2 to 3 years training … concerns?
○ Already have a shortage of family doctors, may further disincentivize physicians
○ Change in training can increase wait times
Your Health Act
- Law provides legislative framework to expand type of surgeries/procedures being done outside hospitals
**CHECK NOTES WTF IS THIS
