Restarting Ontario Health Team implementation

Today, Ontario announced five new Ontario Health Teams as part of the province’s plan to end hallway health care and support the ongoing fight against COVID-19.

Over the past few months, we’ve heard from Ontario Health Teams that the foundations formed as part of this work enhanced their ability to rapidly and effectively respond to COVID-19. For this reason, it is important to continue this work to help better prepare the province for flu season and a potential second wave of COVID-19.

Here are some highlights from today’s announcement and further details on what this means for the teams:

Five new teams!

Congratulations to Algoma OHT, Niagara OHT, Ottawa East OHT, Western York Region OHT and Western Ontario OHT. With today’s announcement, we now have 29 Ontario Health Teams spread across the province.

Teams moving to full application (and new full application form)

A further 17 teams have been invited to move on to the next phase of the readiness assessment process and complete full applications. Scroll down for the full list of teams.

We have been listening to teams to learn about their experience responding to COVID-19. Based on these conversations, we have prepared a new and revised full application form. This form will be sent to the 17 teams and posted on the Ontario Health Team website on July 24.

Funding for Ontario Health Teams

To further advance Ontario Health Team implementation, the government is planning to invest up to $25.25M in funding for approved teams. Teams will establish a collaborative decision-making agreement (CDMA) based on CDMA Guidance that will be shared on July 24. Additional resources are also available on the RISE website. As part of this agreement, teams will choose a member to receive and manage implementation funds on behalf of their Ontario Health Team.

COVID-19 has taught us that effectively delivering integrated care — a cornerstone of the OHT model — is key to a stronger, health care system that can respond to challenges such as we are currently experiencing. We look forward to continuing this journey with all our partners, sharing frequent updates and announcing new teams in the coming months. Thank you to all teams, both approved and working to become approved, for your hard work during this difficult time.

The 17 teams now invited to complete a full application to become an Ontario Health Team are:

  • Brantford Brant Team
  • Downtown East Toronto Team
  • Kawartha Lakes Team
  • Elgin Team
  • Grey-Bruce Team
  • Lanark, Leeds and Grenville Team
  • Kitchener, Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich (KW4) Team
  • Mid-West Toronto Team
  • North Simcoe Team
  • Oxford and Area Team serving Oxford Region - Ingersoll, Woodstock and Tillsonburg
  • Rainy River District Team
  • Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Team serving Kingston, Greater Napanee and surrounding areas
  • Sarnia Lambton Team serving Lambton County
  • Scarborough Team
  • South Georgian Bay Team serving Collingwood, Stayner, Wasaga Beach, Creemore, Clearview and Clarksburg
  • West Toronto Team
  • Windsor Essex Team