Transformation Updates at a Glance:
- The Physician Services Agreement (PSA) has been ratified.
- The number of patients on the patient registry dropped by more than 3,000 since June.
- The Transformation Office continues to build additional capacity with two new team members: Kim Lawn, Workstream Director, and Alex Hendry, Workstream Project Manager.
- The team of physician recruitment staff from across the DHW and HPEI is being temporarily consolidated under the guidance of the Transformation Office to streamline processes, clarify roles, and ensure a modern, seamless, and unified physician recruitment approach. While job responsibilities may change over time, no employment will be lost during this transition.
- "Pulse Check", a structured initiative for monitoring and collaboratively working towards key transformation milestones, will be launched the week of August 12th.
- In the upcoming week, the leadership team will engage in Organizational Capacity workshops to cultivate collaboration, enhance shared understanding of the current situation, and identify strategic improvement opportunities aligned with best practices.
Hi everyone,
As we continue our journey to transform healthcare delivery on the Island, I am pleased to provide you with this week's update on our progress and plans for the upcoming week.
Pulse Check
As mentioned last week, the Transformation Office (TO) is launching “Pulse Check”, a new initiative designed to provide a structured and collaborative approach to monitoring and driving progress of key priorities. Given their alignment with our overall goal of reducing the number of unaffiliated patients on the registry, our first three Pulse Check meetings will be on the Patient Registry, Patient Medical Home, and Workforce Recruitment workstreams, taking place this week.
New team members
We are excited to welcome new members to our team, Kim Lawn – Workstream Director and Alex Hendry – Workstream Project Manager. (Please see their full bios at the end of this memo.)
- Kim Lawn, with a 20-year career in Ontario's acute care system, is a certified oncology nurse and healthcare leader who relocated to PEI, excels in large-scale system-level changes, and leverages her experiences and critical thinking to advocate for person-centred and value-based healthcare, integrating digital solutions, equity, and sustainability into projects, while valuing stakeholder input and using Experience Based Co-Design in quality improvement.
- Alex Hendry, originally from New Brunswick and now residing in PEI since 2009, with brief periods in New York and Toronto. He has 14 years of experience in pharmaceutical management, coupled with a bachelor’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry and an MBA.
Organizational Capacity workshops
The Organizational Capacity team has designed a series of workshops for the upcoming week based on several ELT member interviews and a jurisdictional scan of high performing organizations. These workshops will create a collaborative environment for the team to develop a shared understanding of our current situation and thoughtfully explore strategic opportunities for improvement that align with best practices and support staff.
Workforce recruitment
There’s been several exciting advancements on the Workforce Recruitment front.
For starters, I am pleased to announce that the Physician Service Agreement (PSA) has been ratified. A press release was issued on August 9th, and you can find more information about this important milestone here.
To support this pivotal milestone in our transformation journey, and manage the expected influx of physician recruitment applications, we are temporarily bringing together the team of physician recruitment staff from across the DHW and HPEI under the guidance and direction of the Transformation Office. This will streamline processes and clarify roles, ensuring a modern, seamless, and unified physician recruitment approach.
While job responsibilities may change, no employment will be lost during this transition. In fact, we anticipate more opportunities for growth and professional development ahead. This will help position HPEI as a centre of excellence, attracting top talent to achieve our goal of building primary care capacity and reducing the number of unaffiliated patients on the Island.
Patient registry workstream
The Patient Registry workstream has made significant progress. Between the conclusion of June and July, the number of patients on the registry decreased. 746 were successfully assigned to primary care, most within a Patient Medical Home (PMH). The remaining patients were removed from the registry using data analytics, ensuring the registry accurately represents those in need of primary care. The team is working on improving how we manage the registry by developing new, forward-thinking workflows. Part of this involves adding automated checks for the data, which will be crucial in helping to keep the registry size and accuracy under control over time.
Patient Medical Home Operating Model team
The Patient Medical Home Operating Model team has successfully established the workstream workplan and objectives, which have been validated by Health PEI stakeholders. Their current focus is on conducting interviews with network managers to not only confirm the essential activities for setting up new PMHs, and to pinpoint areas where existing PMHs can be enhanced. At the same time, they are developing a target operating model, roadmap, and provincial plan, all aimed at achieving improved patient outcomes and healthcare efficiency.
Medical School Learning Support team
The Medical School Learning Support team has been maintaining its engagement with key stakeholders across the health system, including Health PEI, UPEI and physician leaders. Our ongoing analysis of the current state of medical education in PEI is being methodically conducted to provide insightful discussion materials for the forthcoming Health System Visioning & Planning Workshop, with UPEI, scheduled for August 14th.
I would like to, as always, extend my heartfelt thanks to our HPEI team and health system partners for your unwavering commitment and effort towards this transformation.
We will continue delivering frequent updates on the progression of the transformation. If you have any questions, please contact healthpei@gov.pe.ca or consult the Transformation Office webpage on HPEI’s Staff Resource Centre.
Mel