Skip to content Ontario.ca Français

Excellent Care for All Act Updates

Quality Improvement Plans

Update - as of February 22, 2012

Quality Improvement Plans (QIP) 2012/13: Progress on QIP Year One (2011/12)

As part of this year's Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) submission process, hospitals are to include a report on their progress against the targets set out in their year one (2011/12) QIPs. Recognizing that this is the first year that hospitals are expected to be reporting on their progress, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has released a guidance document and a recommended template.

Although this is a new process, the submission of each hospital's Progress Report should not replace the organization's own internal reporting schedules. Instead, it is intended to act as a formalized and structured approach to enable progress on QIP over time.

The guidance document and suggested reporting template can be accessed below :

1. Guidance Document for Reporting on Progress on QIP Year One (2011/12)
2. Template for Reporting on Progress on QIP Year One (2011/12)

Hospitals need to submit both their Quality Improvement Plan for year 2 (2012/13), including the excel spreadsheet, and their Report on progress on year one QIP to HQO by emailing QIP@HQOntario.ca by the deadline of April 1, 2012. Please note that similarly to the annual QIPs, the Progress Report is to be made available to the public (i.e. posted on Hospital website).

Update - as of December 20, 2011

The Excellent Care for All Act (ECFAA) requires that every year, health care organizations (currently only applied to hospitals) develop an annual Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) for the following fiscal year and make that plan available to the public. The expectation is for hospitals to have their QIPs in place, publicly posted, and submitted to Health Quality Ontario (HQO) by the deadline of April 1, 2012.

The QIPs are an opportunity to highlight an organization's commitment to :

• delivering high quality health care;
• creating a positive patient experience;
• ensuring that it is responsive and accountable to the public;
• holding its executive team accountable for its achievement; and
• being transparent.

Learnings from QIP Year 1 (QIP I)

Hospitals were mandated to provide HQO with a copy of its annual quality improvement plan in a format established by the Council that permits province-wide comparison of and reporting on a minimum set of quality indicators. All public hospitals in Ontario developed and submitted their QIPs to HQO by the deadline of April 1, 2011.

An analysis of these QIPs, the 2011 Quality Improvement Plans: An Analysis for Learning, is available from HQO's website.

What's new this year

The goal of this year's QIP process is to continue to support hospital quality improvement while ensuring provincial movement of the quality agenda. For QIP 2012/13 (QIP II), the guiding principles are listed below :

• Ensure the fundamental goal/purpose of QIP
• Support and advance progress achieved from year 1
• Allow for a reasonable amount of change (i.e. improved performance where appropriate)
• Continue on a quality "journey"
• Information gathered should be information used
• Support the goals of ECFAA

The Excellent Care for All Act Implementation Working Group (ECFAA IWG), whose members include representatives from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, HQO, OHA, LHINs, and hospitals from across Ontario, continues to support the development of guidance materials that hospitals can use when preparing their QIPs. Key learnings and feedback from the QIP I implementation process were used in the re-design of this guidance for 2012/13 implementation.

Hospitals recognize that improved performance leads to better patient care. Last year, the focus of ECFAA was on compliance and implementation of the legislation. This year, while still ensuring that hospitals continue to comply with the legislation, the QIP II guidance being provided to the field encourages hospitals to move toward improved performance and standardization where appropriate. Hospitals are especially encouraged to consider how their plan incorporates integration of care 'beyond the hospital walls' and how the QIP is aligned with other priorities of the organization as well as broader provincial initiatives. This perspective is reflected in this year's guidance, which can be accessed from the section below.

The following materials are available to support the development of a QIP :

QIP guidance materials : the materials listed below have been created to assist hospitals in meeting the legislative requirements and to provide HQO with the QIP in a format that permits province-wide comparison and reporting on a minimum set of quality indicators. The QIP Short Form (also referred to as the Narrative) is composed of a word document and an accompanying Part B: Improvement Targets and Initiatives Spreadsheet (excel spreadsheet):

1. QIP Short Form (Narrative)
2. Part B: Improvement Targets and Initiatives Spreadsheet (Excel spreadsheet)
3. QIP Guidance Document for 2012/13 : This detailed guide walks through the process of completing the QIP Short Form. Updated guidance on performance-based compensation can be found in the Guidance document (Appendix E)
4. QIP II Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) : Circulated by the OHA on Dec 11, 2011

The Quality Improvement Plan in the QIP Short Form format must be completed with any relevant information and submitted to HQO by April 1, 2012. Hospitals are also reminded that their plans must be made publicly available by April 1, 2012.

For more information on the QIP Short Form, please email QIP@HQOntario.ca. For more information about Excellent Care for All, or to receive regular ECFAA updates, please email ECFAA@ontario.ca.

Related Legislation

Section 8.
(1) In every fiscal year, every health care organization shall develop a quality improvement plan for the next fiscal year and make the quality improvement plan available to the public.

(2) The annual quality improvement plan must be developed having regard to at least the following:

1. The results of the surveys.
2. Data relating to the patient relations process.
3. In the case of a public hospital, its aggregated critical incident data as compiled based on disclosures of critical incidents pursuant to regulations made under the Public Hospitals Act and information concerning indicators of the quality of health care provided by the hospital disclosed pursuant to regulations made under the Public Hospitals Act.
4. Any factors provided for in the regulations.

(3) The annual quality improvement plans must contain, at a minimum,

a) annual performance improvement targets and the justification for those targets;
b) information concerning the manner in and extent to which health care organization executive compensation is linked to achievement of those targets; and
c) anything else provided for in the regulations

(4) At the request of the local health integration network for the geographic area in which a health care organization is located, the health care organization shall provide the local health integration network with a draft of the annual quality improvement plan for review before it is made available to the public.

(5) Every health care organization shall provide a copy of its annual quality improvement plan to the Ontario Health Quality Council in a format established by the Council that permits province-wide comparison of and reporting on a minimum set of quality indicators.