Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Recommendation 5-34: Require hospitals to make discharge summaries available
electronically to other care providers (e.g., general practitioners, home care) immediately.
Recommendation 5-35: Switch to electronic delivery of laboratory test results to improve
timeliness and efficiency, as well as support patient privacy.
Recommendation 5-36: Reduce absenteeism for Ontarians and office visits, while improving
patient satisfaction, through secure messaging between patients and providers, online
appointment scheduling, access to test results for patients, and online requests for prescription
refills and renewal.
Management of Complex and Chronic Conditions
Recommendation 5-37: Complex care patients should be managed through interprofessional,
team-based approaches to maximize co-ordination with Family Health Teams and other
community care providers.
Recommendation 5-38: Chronic issues should be handled by community and home-based
care to the fullest extent possible.
Recommendation 5-39: Reach out to patients who need preventive care, particularly chronic
disease and medication management, rather than waiting for them to come to get services.
Leverage electronic medical records, decision support and secure messaging with Ontarians
to achieve these goals.
Recommendation 5-40: Reduce mortality, hospitalizations and costs while improving
patient satisfaction by connecting Ontarians who have serious chronic health problems
(e.g., congestive heart failure) with ongoing monitoring and support through expanded
use of telehomecare.
Recommendation 5-41: Centralize leadership of chronic disease management by developing
co-ordinating bodies for chronic conditions including mental health, heart and stroke and renal
disease, based on the Cancer Care Ontario model.
Governance and Structures
If revamped LHINs are to co-ordinate the system, they would need appropriate representation.
Recommendation 5-42: Resource the Local Health Integration Networks adequately to
perform their expanded functions. Additional resources should come in large part from the
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care; this would entail a significant transfer of employees.
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