Tuesday October 2nd,
2:00 – 5:00 pm

In Ontario and across North America, clinicians, decision makers and researchers increasingly look to evidenced based practice as a means to improve the quality and continuity of health care delivery. Until the recent implementation in Ontario of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care’s Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care (HOBIC) program, the impact of nurses was underrepresented in health outcomes focus. This under-representation was due, in part, to the lack of consistent and standardized nursing assessments both within a particular health care sector as well as across the care continuum.

This presentation will utilize HOBIC information to explore the electronic flow of nursing sensitive outcomes information across three sectors: acute care, long term care and complex continuing care. We will provide analysis of actual patient outcomes between episodes of care for readmitted patients in the acute care setting as well as focus on the utility to providers of sharing outcomes information as the patient is transferred across the three sectors. We will explore the accuracy and quality of the information as it follows the patient’s trajectory throughout the health care sectors. We will also discuss potential solutions currently being explored to facilitate the electronic sharing of this information within a patient circle of care throughout a LHIN environment.

Helen Holmes is a senior health care consultant currently working for HInext Inc. on the HOBIC implementation for the MOHLTC. HInext is the healthcare consulting and services company overseeing the technical implementation of HOBIC in Ontario including the outcomes database, site integration and operations. Helen has over 20 years experience in the health care industry. Her professional experience combines clinical nursing, information systems implementation and hospital financial and business operations.