Ontario invests $14.5 million more in virtual care

TORONTO – As part of Ontario’s continued response to the COVID-19 outbreak and in alignment with the Digital First for Health Strategy, Ontario is investing $14.5 million to support the expansion of virtual care for Ontario Health Teams and frontline home and community care service providers.

Ontario has seen a significant increase in the number of visits provided virtually across Ontario. This investment will equip healthcare providers with the support needed to sustain current capacity and improve the quality of care delivered virtually. Virtual care in home and community care settings will also benefit rural and remote area regions where access to care is more challenging.

An investment of $9.5 million will go towards remote patient monitoring programs delivered by various healthcare organizations, including Ontario Health Team member organizations like hospitals. This will support the delivery of remote patient care, monitoring and symptom management at home to support COVID-19 patients and other vulnerable populations.

The implementation of these remote patient monitoring programs will allow patients to connect virtually with a healthcare provider for routine checkups, symptom monitoring, referral to other providers, and escalation where necessary to a virtual or in-person medical assessment.

As part of this funding, $5 million will be invested in virtual home and community care capacity by providing funding directly to frontline home and community care service providers.

This investment will help purchase technologies for videoconferencing, remote monitoring and secure messaging that will enable care to continue to be delivered at home, minimizing face-to-face visits where appropriate, and keeping clients and families out of the hospital.

These investments will offer more choices in how patients receive care and make healthcare simpler, easier and more convenient, while allowing patients to continue accessing the routine healthcare services they need throughout the pandemic.

This funding is part of the province’s COVID-19 fall preparedness plan, Keeping Ontarians Safe: Preparing for Future Waves of COVID-19, which will enable the province to respond to future surges and waves of the virus, while preserving hospital capacity.

Details were provided by Premier Doug Ford (pictured) and Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

“With today’s modern medical advances and technology, and with the help of our dedicated nurses and personal support workers, we are ready to provide quality care for patients in their own homes and in their communities,” said Premier Ford.

As well, the Ontario government is investing more than $115 million to provide 850 complex-care patients across the province with better access to services in the comfort of their own homes.

The new High Intensity Supports at Home program helps patients with high care needs transition from a hospital back to their home or community setting with the right supports, also known as alternate level of care patients.

This program provides integrated, team-based care where multiple types of services are wrapped around the patient. This can include up to 11 hours a day of personal support services and nursing services per patient. Other community services may include Meals on Wheels, homemaking and transportation to medical appointments.

With this investment, the province will add more capacity in hospitals, provide approximately 484,000 nursing and therapy visits, and approximately 1.4 million personal support worker hours.

“Our government is making it easier and faster for patients to access high-quality care at home,” said Minister Elliott. “Connecting patients with the care they need, when and where they need it will help keep Ontarians healthy and avoid unnecessary visits and stays at the hospital. This program will help ensure Ontario’s hospitals have the capacity needed to address those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”