Excellent Care for All

About the Excellent Care for All Act

The Excellent Care for All Act (ECFAA), which came into law in June of 2010, puts Ontario patients first by strengthening the health care sector's organizational focus and accountability to deliver high quality patient care.

The goal of the legislation is to blend quality and value in such a way that Ontarians will be able to count on the health care system for generations to come.

Requirements for Health Care Providers

The legislation sets out a number of requirements for health care providers which will be implemented first in the hospital sector, with the intent to expand across all health care organizations in the province. The legislation requires that health care providers :

establish quality committees that report on quality-related issues
put annual quality improvement plans in place and make these available to the public
link executive compensation to the achievement of targets set out in the quality improvement plan
put patient / care provider satisfaction surveys in place
conduct staff surveys
develop a declaration of values following public consultation, if such a document is not currently in place
establish a patient relations process to address and improve the patient experience.

Supporting Success

An implementation working group has been established to assist Ontario hospitals in their efforts to comply with the ECFAA.

The Excellent Care for All Act Implementation Working Group (ECFAA IWG) will support, guide, facilitate and coordinate implementation of the ECFAA and its regulations, and related quality initiatives, as detailed in its terms of reference. The working group held its inaugural meeting in July of 2010, and will continue to meet bi-weekly to review matters related to the ECFAA.

Board Training

To help hospitals meet the requirements of the Excellent Care for All Act, the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA), the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) have partnered with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to create and deliver education sessions for the province's hospital leaders. These specialized two-day sessions, which are funded by the government of Ontario, will offer a unique and comprehensive education curriculum that supports Ontario hospital boards in their ongoing efforts to improve governance in the area of quality and patient safety.

Funding to support small hospital corporations

Hospitals are now in the implementation stage of ECFAA, and there is growing concern that small hospital corporations are not appropriately equipped to comply with the various requirements in the Act. Small hospitals face operating challenges as a result of isolation, transportation, and limited efficiencies from economies of scale. The Ontario Government is investing $2.5 million over 2010/11 and 2011/12 to support small hospital corporations (those hospital corporations with fewer than 2,500 weighted cases per year) implement the ECFAA.

These funds will be used in :

Supporting start-up costs and delivery of patient/staff surveys
Developing data and analysis for development of Quality Improvement Plans
Supporting quality committees in sharing best practices information with hospital staff
Making material such as declarations of values, patient relations processes and quality improvement plans available to the public

Implementation Working Group Updates

The ECFAA IWG has produced updates on the various components of the Act which will be regularly revised to provide further clarity around timing and expectations.

Communications

March, 2011 : OHQC and OHA host technical briefing on the Quality Improvement Plan

Webcast : Video

February, 2011 : Training sessions offered to hospital Board Chairs, Quality Committee Chairs, and CEOs across Ontario: Governance for Quality and Patient Safety

January, 2011 : Minister Deb Matthews attends webcast to roll-out Quality Improvement Plan support materials