The Quality Management Partnership
Consistent with the College’s strategic priority of ensuring physician
competence via our physician assessment program and oversight of
clinics, we continued to work within the Quality Management Partnership (QMP) to develop a provincial quality management program in
mammography, colonoscopy and pathology. The QMP is a joint effort
of this College and Cancer Care Ontario.
This provincial quality framework will set integrated performance
standards at the provider, facility and system levels to ensure consistent
quality across the entire system, from hospital to community.
The program was put forward as part of the Ministry of Health’s
commitment to shaping a patient-centred quality culture, and is
framed as part of the Ministry’s Patients First Action Plan.
Mr. Wade Hillier, director of the College’s Quality Management
Division, explained why this initiative is necessary.
“Across the province there are no consistent approaches to define
and measure the quality of these types of services. The partnership’s
aim is to bring a level of consistency so that patients, regardless of
where they go in the province to receive any of these three services,
will be able to have a similar quality experience.”
In 2014, the work focused on a report designing the core critical
components to establish Quality Management Programs in each of
the three service areas. The report was submitted to the MOHLTC
in March 2015 for approval while ongoing design of the programs
has continued.
Objectives
I ncrease the quality of care and improve patient
safety
Increase the consistency in the quality of care
provided across facilities
Improve public confidence by increasing
accountability and transparency
On The Horizon
We await Ministry approval of the design and recommendations in
the QMP’s Phase 2 report. In the meantime, foundational elements
are being designed for full implementation once the Ministry has
signalled its approval.
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COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF ONTARIO