What’s next for Ontario Health Teams?

Ontario Health Teams are a new way of organizing and delivering health care services in local communities and part of our plan to end hallway health care. Starting this fall, we will reach new milestones with all the teams. This is an exciting time in health care in Ontario and we are thrilled to share what’s next for Ontario Health Teams with you.

Teams that submitted full applications: The ministry and a panel of third-party advisors are reviewing the applications and evaluating teams based on their readiness to implement the Ontario Health Team model. We are conducting community visits to meet with each of the teams in their communities and have in-person discussions about their plans, challenges and goals.

The first cohort of Ontario Health Teams will be announced in late-November 2019.

Teams in-development: The ministry has been working closely with teams in-development as they continue to improve their readiness. These teams will have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to move to the full application stage by preparing progress reports for submission to the ministry in January 2020.

In March 2020, the next round of teams will be invited by the ministry to submit full application forms.

Teams in-discovery: The ministry encouraged teams in-discovery to expand their partnerships and provided supports to help further develop their Ontario Health Team model. These teams will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit a self-assessment on December 4, 2019.

Teams who have not submitted a self-assessment: On December 4, 2019, new teams can submit a self-assessment to demonstrate how they plan to deliver coordinated services across at least three sectors of care (particularly hospital, home care, community care and primary care) for a community.

Self-assessment intake and invitations to complete full applications will now continue on a regular cycle until full provincial coverage is reached and every Ontarian is supported by an Ontario Health Team.

Key dates:

  • late November 2019 - first set of Ontario Health Teams are identified
  • December 4, 2019 - next deadline for self-assessment submissions
  • January 2020 - deadline for in-development progress reports
  • March 2020 - next invitation for full application submissions

For questions about Ontario Health Teams, email OntarioHealthTeams@ontario.ca.

To send us your questions, comments and suggestions on how we’re improving the public health care system, email ConnectedCare@ontario.ca.