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Longwoods eLetter March 3, 2009

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QUOTE

“Public disclosure does have impact and moves the system along.” Dr. Brian Postl at Breakfast with the Chiefs last week.

If we think about it, all Canadians should be “stakeholders” – equal, and equally legitimate – in all matters of health policy (in fact, our Canada Health Act mandates as much). Does that make us lackeys? Neil Seeman looks at contranyms here.

Wait Lists
Where the demand for medical and/or surgical interventions seriously outstrips the availability of services, the ethical dilemma of distributing these limited services in the most equitable and acceptable fashion is clearly evident. Canada’s leading expert in obesity medicine weighs in with Ethical Considerations in Managing Weighting Lists. . . and how complex is the obesity epidemic? Click here for a CBC interview with Arya M. Sharma, MD/PhD, FRCPC Professor of Medicine, Chair for Obesity Research & Management, University of Alberta

Inter-facility Patient Transfers in Ontario divert resources from more emergent requests
Patients in Ontario are often transferred between healthcare facilities. Most transfers are for routine, non-life-threatening reasons, using the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system. Eighty-five thousand patients (24.3% of transferred patients) were transported between healthcare facilities for dialysis appointments, appointments with physicians and return trips home. This practice diverts resources from more emergent requests. More.

But . . . Here’s How to Reduce Inter-facility Patient Transfers in Ontario
According to Canada Health Infoway, Canada’s investments in digital diagnostic imaging technology will eliminate up to 17,000 patient transfers annually. More.

Canadian Health Improvement Forum on Saturday, March 21
In support of the Summit, BC's health care improvement community is delighted to invite health improvement colleagues from across Canada to a pre-summit Canadian Health Improvement Forum specifically designed to allow Canadian participants at IHI to showcase the best of clinical office redesign in Canada. For additional information, click here.

The electronic Child Health Network (eCHN) celebrated its 10 year anniversary of Canada's first province-wide integrated electronic patient record system. eCHN is a provincial government-funded organization providing electronic solutions that permit the sharing of health care information among authorized health care providers. The vision was provided by the Hospital for Sick Children. Canada’s first integrated electronic health record solution is currently the largest province-wide network of its kind in Canada.

These Longwoods features are made available for a limited time by Philips Healthcare. Click here.

• International experience has demonstrated that EHRs trigger profound cultural and organizational changes in healthcare delivery. Click here.
• This community PACS report looks specifically at hospitals with 200 beds or less: current trends, vendor performance, functional ratings and positive versus negative provider commentary. Click here.
• Listowel Memorial Hospital (a small hospital) has successfully implemented a community-wide electronic health record. These factors were critical in its implementation. Click here.
• Lynn M. Nagle and Peter Catford discuss a model of successful electronic health record adoption. Click here.

The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation is accepting nominations for the 2009 Health Services Research Advancement Award. For more information please visit www.chsrf.ca.

• Send your transitions, news and innovations to news@longwoods.com. (Let your communications VP know.)
• Ever wonder what happens to all those eLetters? Stay tuned here. (This page has its own search engine.)
• If you received this eLetter from a colleague, sign up for your own issue. Click here.

Daily Health and Healthcare News. Compiled by our Editors and Canadian Press.
Flu trends - up to the minute updates from Google.
Listeriosis - up to the minute news updates from Google.

SAVIEZ-VOUS QUE?
Le Canada compte 6 nouveaux diplômés en médecine par 100 000 habitants, comparativement à la moyenne de 10 nouveaux diplômés dans les pays de l'OCDE.

Healthcare Quarterly
Adverse Events in Community Care: Implications for Practice, Policy and Research
Paul Masotti, Michael Green and Mary Ann McColl

HealthcarePapers
Strategic Purchasing in Home and Community Care across Canada: Coming to Grips with "What" to Purchase
A. Paul Williams

Nursing Leadership
Delivery of High-Tech Home Care by Hospital-Based Nursing Units in Quebec: Clinical and Technical Challenges
Pascale Lehoux, L. Richard, R. Pineault, J. Saint-Arnaud

Healthcare Policy
The Effects of Competition on Community-Based Nursing Wages
Dara Zarnett, Peter C. Coyte, Eric Nauenberg, Diane Doran and Audrey Laporte

Electronic Healthcare
The HIT Report from KLAS: Clinical Automation in the Physician Office: FOCUS: e-Prescribing/Ambulatory EMR 2005

World Health and Population
"...No Stone Left Unturned:" How the Public Explains the Ugandan Success Story
Elizabeth Chapman, Walter Kipp and Tom Rubaale

Today’s featured Podcast:

Annual Review of IM/IT in Healthcare: The Unvarnished Version
Michael Guerriere speaks at Breakfast with the Chiefs - Tuesday, March 25, 2008.

Listen to the presentation here.
Watch the presentation here.

Organizations interested in contributing to Longwoods Radio, read this . . .
This is a great opportunity to effectively transfer knowledge using storytelling, compelling lectures or gripping interviews – using simple digital recordings that we distribute on the web. Formatted for iPod listeners, too. For criteria and specifications please contact Lina Lopez at LLopez@longwoods.com. All subject to editorial review and acceptance.

2009 Calendar of Breakfast with the Chiefs

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - Toronto
Mary Ferguson Pare, Vice President, Professional Affairs & Chief Nurse Executive UHN
Topic: TBA
Location: University of Toronto, Health Sciences Building, Room 610, 155 College Street, Toronto
Sponsors: ACAHO, Accenture, CGI, McKesson Canada, Ontario Hospital Association

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 - Toronto
Adalsteinn Brown, Assistant Deputy Minister, Health System Strategy Division, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Topic: TBA
Location: University of Toronto, Health Sciences Building, Room 610, 155 College Street, Toronto
Sponsors: ACAHO, Accenture, CGI, IBM, McKesson Canada, Ontario Hospital Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - Toronto
Tom Closson, President and CEO, Ontario Hospital Association
Topic: The five Most Important Issues Facing Healthcare over the Next 12 Months. And, what to do about them.
Location: University of Toronto, Health Sciences Building, Room 610, 155 College Street, Toronto
Sponsors: ACAHO, Accenture, CGI, Ontario Hospital Association

Other confirmed Chiefs for 2008/2009 series of Breakfast with the Chiefs: Joseph D’Cruz, Professor, Rotman School of Management, Ross Baker, Professor, Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Dr. Penny Ballem, and the Honourable George Smitherman.

For more information on upcoming speakers or to view past presentations click here.

Breakfast with the Chiefs video from Thursday, February 12, 2009 – Vancouver - Murray T. Martin, President and CEO, Hamilton Health Sciences and Cliff Nordal, President and CEO, St. Joseph’s Health Care, London.
Topic: Let's settle the private/public hospital debate: A Conversation reflecting on a tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Sponsors: Accenture, ACAHO, CGI, IBM, HP Canada, McKesson Canada, PricewaterhouseCoopers

The small print: Breakfast with the Chiefs registration requirements:
Do you work at a publicly funded organization? If so, you must hold a current personal subscription for at least one Longwoods journal. This covers attendance for the full season. If you are not a subscriber, click here first. If you are a subscriber, go to this page for information on upcoming dates.

Registrants from private sector organizations, foundations and associations must be registered members of the Longwoods HealthcareBoard. If you are not sure of your status and want more information please contact Matthew Hart at mhart@longwoods.com

To see the photo archives click here. To see our video archives click here.

March 3-4, 2009: Ottawa, ON. Quality Worklife, Quality Healthcare Collaborative, Shaping the Future of Quality: Building on the Momentum. Be part of an exciting Canada-wide knowledge exchange opportunity. Click here.

March 6, 2009: Edmonton, AB. Psychology in Rehabilitation: Enhancing the Potential for Change. This conference will focus on neural plasticity and the use of technology to aid cognitive rehabilitation, and is in keeping with our commitment to stay abreast of advances and best practice in our rehabilitative work with patients. For more information click here.

March 9, 2009: Toronto, ON. Best Practices Day 2009: Rehabilitation Transforming Healthcare: Join us to explore the impact of rehabilitation’s role in transforming our healthcare system, from practice innovation to perspectives in planning and policy. The program will include a technology innovation panel, keynotes on the “Second Curve” in rehabilitation healthcare, and rehabilitation post-war zone, as well as research presentations. For details click here.

March 11, 2009: Toronto, ON. Centre for Outsourcing Research & Education (CORE) presents Leadership for Change & Innovation, A Healthcare Conference. CORE’s 2nd annual Healthcare conference. With the current flux in the economy the need for improving accountability in Canadian healthcare sector comes to the forefront. Featuring KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Michael Treacy, Business Strategist; Peter De Jager, Change Management Expert; Benoît Long, CIO of Trillium Health Centre. For more information and to register call 416-366-2673 or click here. Sponsored by IBM.

March 12, 2009: Toronto, ON. Eating the SSI Elephant: New workshop being offered to help Ontario hospitals reduce surgical site infection while meeting provincial reporting requirements. For details, click here (PDF) or go to http://www.qhn.ca.

April 21, 2009: Toronto, ON. One Patient, One Record. A One Day Symposium to promote Patient eHealth. Offering a dialogue opportunity between two distinct stakeholders – healthcare personnel and patients, this “By Invitation Only” event will bring together key healthcare decision makers and service delivery personnel in direct communication with highly motivated and informed patients. For more information click here.

April 22-24, 2009: Toronto, ON. Pillars in Case Management - Diversities, Communities, Best Practices. The National Case Management Network is pleased to be hosting our 3rd Annual National Case Management Conference. Plan to be a part of this premier event in Case Management in Canada, and join conference delegates engaged in the field of Case Management from diverse health and social service sectors, which include practice, education, research, quality improvement, and management positions. For details click here.

April 23-25, 2009: Vancouver, BC. Pathways to Success: Improving Outcomes through Physician Engagement. Renew your inspiration at the 11th Annual Canadian Society of Physician Executives conference. Network with Canadian physician leaders to explore solutions to common challenges at The Sutton Place Hotel, Vancouver. Contact: carol.rochefort@cma.ca or click here.

April 28-30, 2009: Toronto, ON. Canada’s Forum on Patient Safety and Quality Improvement. This forum will provide multiple learning streams with a national and international flavour. The streams for the forum will fall under the following areas Applied Learning, Infection Prevention and Control, Medication Safety, Patients and Family Involvement; Patient Safety in Physician Practice, and Technology and Patient Safety. For more information and to register for this exciting conference, click here.

April 30-May 1, 2009: Toronto, ON. Age Friendly Communities: Supporting Aging at Home and Across the Continuum of Care. The Conference examines progress on the Aging at Home Strategies and local initiatives that advance age friendly communities. Keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Butler reports on changes in longevity and some 50 papers and workshops provide evidence-based information and best practices. Registration and program details at www.gerontario.org under the Conference tab.

May 11-14, 2009: Calgary, AB. The annual Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) Conference brings together over 400 of Canada’s leading researchers, decision makers, managers and trainees to exchange ideas and share findings from the most recent studies in health services and policy research. For more information or to register click here.

May 12-14, 2009: Toronto, ON. Global Harmonization Task Force 12th Conference. A must attend for regulatory professionals and stakeholders affected by medtech regulations, this is the venue for sharing the latest regulatory issues, developments and solutions. For more information, visit www.ghtf.org or call 1.866.58.MEDEC or 415.620.1915 x236. Online registration is now open: click here.