We need to empower patients to have more of a voice in healthcare.

The Minister of Health has introduced new legislation – the Excellent Care for All Bill, which puts the patient first, and takes a leadership role in further improving the quality of care delivered in our hospitals.

The proposed legislation would create a climate of constant improvement where health care administrators and providers continually seek ways to improve the quality of care. It builds on leading practices already occurring in many of our health care organizations, and demands that other organizations do the same. It would apply first to hospitals and could eventually apply to other health care sectors, so that excellent care is available to all Ontarians no matter which health care organization they get their care from.

Under this proposed legislation, your local hospital executives – through annual quality improvement plans – would clearly and openly tell you how they will enhance the care their hospital provides in the coming year.

You would have a direct say in these plans.

Surveys would be taken from patients/clients, caregivers and employees to get information about their satisfaction with services provided and their views on ways to improve care at the hospital. These survey results would inform initiatives developed to provide better patient care.

You would have access to a patient relations process developed by your hospital. Patients and their families would be able to ask questions, make comments and have their concerns addressed. These concerns could be passed on to quality committees, which would be set up to address quality issues. Annual quality improvement plans would also be developed based on information from the patient relations process.

The proposed legislation would also link your hospital CEO’s compensation to the achievement of targets that are set out in annual quality improvement plans.

Besides giving you a greater say at your local hospital, our government wants to make sure you are always receiving evidence-based care – care that clinical evidence shows to be effective in delivering the best patient outcomes. Through the Excellent Care for All Bill, our government would also strengthen capacity in Ontario for identifying and promoting the best evidence in the delivery of health care. The legislation would expand the mandate of the Ontario Health Quality Council to recommend evidence-based guidelines that health care providers should adopt and health care services the government should fund.

In addition to the proposed legislation, we will be working with health care leaders and quality improvement organizations to put evidence-based care in place. Initially, we will work with our partners to target efforts at reducing avoidable admission and readmissions to our hospitals and to reduce the use of unnecessary diagnostic tests, where clinical evidence shows no value, or even worse, is harmful to the patient. These are two of the areas that are well documented where improvement can be made. There are other areas also and we will work on them as we move forward.

The best evidence would also begin to inform the way we fund our hospitals. Right now, Ontario hospitals are still largely funded on the basis of historical factors, and do not clearly reflect the patients they provide care for. We will be moving towards a patient-based payment approach for hospitals, where large hospitals would be funded based on the types and numbers of patients they serve.

Patient-based funding would provide greater transparency between hospital funding and the care patients receive. It will create the right environment for hospitals to deliver high-quality, effective care to patients, and ensure our funding recognizes high-performing hospitals.

Ontarians deserve excellent health care that is second to none in the world. Our government is acting to ensure a health care system where high quality care and its continuous improvement is the number one goal.

Health care will be organized around patients with health services supported by the best evidence and highest standards. Through these initiatives, you will be assured you’re getting the best value for your taxpayer dollars and a sustainable system that will be there for you now and in the future.