News Release
CKHA Shows Solid Performance Scores on New Provincial Website
CHATHAM-KENT -- April 16, 2009: Today the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) launched a new consumer website, www.myhospitalcare.ca which allows viewers to learn more about performance measurements, or ‘indicators’, that health care industry experts use to measure and improve the performance of Ontario hospitals.
According to the OHA, the new website is designed for patients and their families to become an active partner in their health care by learning more about Ontario’s hospitals. “By making hospital performance information easy for people to access, myhospitalcare.ca is empowering patients and helping hospitals become even more accountable than they already are,” says Tom Closson, President and CEO of OHA. Like all public reporting on health system performance, this site strives to inspire improved performance, enhance patient safety and strengthen the public’s confidence in Ontario’s hospitals.
OHA’s website features 39 different indicators, each rating an aspect of patient care. It uses data selected from the Hospital Report Research Collaborative, the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Currently, the site includes measurements on acute care, emergency, rehabilitation, chronic and complex care, as well as general satisfaction indicators such as the patients’ overall impression of their hospital experiences.
According to OHA, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is meeting or exceeding the provincial average in almost all of the measurements including clinical outcomes in maternity, rehabilitation, chronic and complex care. Overall impression scores reflect a high level of patient satisfaction in elements of care such as responsiveness and communication.
“This is good news,” said Linda McGivern, Manager, Utilization Management / Performance Improvement. “It reflects positively on the work of our front line care providers.”
“Myhospitalcare.ca is a welcomed addition to CKHA’s public performance reporting”, McGivern added. “Since 2008, CKHA has been publicly posting results on our website in four quadrants of a balanced scorecard: Clinical Utilization and Outcomes, Patient Satisfaction / Patient Safety; Financial Performance and System Integration and Change. CKHA’s website now provides an additional link to myhospitalcare.ca for viewer ease.”
Ontario hospitals are national leaders in transparency and accountability, meeting demanding accountability standards. This is demonstrated through participation in Hospital Report, participation in Accreditation processes, Hospital Service Accountability Agreements, the public reporting of patient safety and wait times indicators and value-for-money audits by Ontario’s Auditor General.
“Myhospitalcare.ca is simply another way that hospitals support continuous improvement and demonstrate openness and transparency to their communities,” said McGivern.
Media contact:
Linda McGivern
Manager, Utilization Management & Performance Improvement
519-352-6401 ext. 6325
Ontario Hospital Association
416-205-1433
Visit www.myhospitalcare.ca for more information, including resources,tools and frequently asked questions.
MEDIA BACKGROUNDER - myhospitalcare.ca
What is myhospitalcare.ca?
myhospitalcare.ca is a web resource for health care consumers developed by the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA). The site is designed to make public information about hospitals both accessible and useful to prospective and recurring patients and their families.
Why did the OHA create myhospitalcare.ca?
Health care is something Canadians value and consider central to our national identity. However, very few Canadians know much about their health system, particularly how their local hospitals are performing.
The goal of myhospitalcare.ca is to provide the public with access to gold-standard quality reporting for health care in Ontario. Compiling and explaining content from publicly-available resources, the site offers interesting and valuable information on how well hospitals care for patients, including hospital ratings for various types of care based on patient satisfaction, patient safety and clinical outcomes.
By making the information easy for people access, the OHA is empowering patients to become more educated about and more involved in their own health care. The site is also intended to help hospitals become even more accountable than they already are.
What hospitals are featured on the site?
myhospitalcare.ca includes information on every hospital in Ontario.
Where does the information featured on myhospitalcare.ca come from?
The site uses data selected from the Hospital Report Research Collaborative, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC).
The historic public reporting work encapsulated in the Hospital Report series (developed by the Hospital Report Research Collaborative) has long been considered the methodological gold standard in terms of health system transparency. CIHI also plays a key role in the development of hospital performance measures, and many of CIHI’s methodologies are used worldwide. The MOHLTC’s reporting on emergency department wait times and patient safety issues has allowed for clear and standardized reporting by all hospitals.
How does the site work?
Visitors to the site can search and view information by hospital, by location, by type of care and/or by indicator.
Although hospitals collect data on many different aspects of their operations, myhospitalcare.ca features only the information that is most likely to be of interest to patients. Currently, there are 39 different indicators, each rating an aspect of patient care.
How should patients use the site?
The information on this website is not real-time information. It is a collection of previously reported public data that can help patients understand how hospitals in their communities are performing.
Patients should not use the site as a guide to choosing a hospital.
To learn more about health care options, patients may wish to visit the government’s Your Health Care Options website at www.ontario.ca/healthcareoptions.
What do the different shades of green for the indicators mean?
Because this site is designed to make health care information as easy to understand as possible, The colour coding is used to demonstrate a hospital's relative performance as either below average, average, or above average.
How does Ontario’s public reporting compare to public reporting in other jurisdictions?
No other site in Canada specifically brings hospital performance information straight to patients, and since Ontario hospitals are national leaders in transparency and accountability, meeting some of the most demanding accountability standards anywhere, myhospitalcare.ca naturally evolved as the next step in our commitment to public reporting.
Where can I find out more information about myhospitalcare.ca?
More information about myhospitalcare.ca and any of the OHA’s transparency efforts can be obtained on the Ontario Hospital Association’s website (www.oha.com) or by contacting OHA Public Affairs at 416-205-1433.