Hospital staff, healthcare providers can learn more about new Ontario healthcare system
Friday December 14, 2007 -- Natalie Miller
Hospital staff, healthcare providers and Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) staff can learn more about the changing landscape of healthcare in Ontario at an upcoming event.

The Ontario Hospital Association presents ‘The LHIN Agenda and the New Government’ on Jan. 25, 2008 at the Renaissance Toronto Hotel Downtown, 1 Blue Jays Way.

The conference aims to provide insights on the challenges facing the Ontario healthcare system as it continues to evolve, as well as the role of the LHINs and their provider partners in meeting those challenges.

One of the event’s speakers, Cathy Fooks, president and CEO of The Change Foundation, has a particular interest in integration and what that looks like for Ontario across the healthcare spectrum.

“Hospitals like all of the other (healthcare providers) will collaborate and will work with the LHINs,” says The Change Foundation president and CEO, Cathy Fooks.

“Hospitals will work with the LHINs to sign accountability agreements. There’s going to be lots of interest on their part to work with community partners,” says Fooks, noting hospitals are part of the vested effort in making the patient transition through the healthcare system a smoother one.

The Ontario policy think-tank is redefining its focus with a key objective being to help improve healthcare integration as the province moves through the LHIN model.

The Change Foundation generates research, analysis and informed public discussion on key and emerging health system issues, starting with the integration of healthcare services in communities across Ontario. The Change Foundation is an independent charitable foundation with a mandate to promote, support and improve health and the delivery of healthcare in Ontario. One of those key areas is to look in depth at integration. “Ontario has not gone the regional route,” Fooks earlier told Axiom News. “They’ve set up the LHINs with the mandate to integrate services. We’re interested in supporting that process.”

Confirmed speakers include Fooks, Penny Ballem (former Deputy of Health from British Columbia), Terry Sullivan, CEO of Cancer Care Ontario, Barry McLellan, CEO of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Vida Vaitonis, Mississauga Halton Community Care Access Centre and several LHIN CEOs.

For more information, including registration, visit this link.