Tag Archives: CIHI

Hospital funding freeze, high admin costs show up in quality indicators

Posted on October 31, 2014 | Leave a comment

Photograph on person holding a test tube entering data into a laptop computer.

For all the shortfalls in Ontario’s health system, the reality is that despite having among the lowest per capita levels of funding, the province is matching if not excelling the Canadian average in many categories measured by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

Whether this reflects well on Ontario or badly on the rest of the Canada is an open debate.

CIHI is widely respected as being an unbiased source of information for health planners although they remain at the mercy of local health providers who provide the inputs.

Mortality rates, for example, have been known to fluctuate widely once a hospital has learned to game the system. Only unexpected deaths count, so most deaths become expected.

CIHI has established a site where you can compare provinces on 37 indicators. Just enter your province and determine whether you want the summary or the detailed report. (Click here to access the site)

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Access to primary care, Canadian Institute for Health Information, CIHI, Ontario Health System, Ontario Hospitals

Ontario hospitals: Only Mexico to pass to reach the fewest beds per capita

Posted on July 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

Here’s a given – as Ontario hospitals start to shed services and staff in the next three years, the government is inevitably going to proclaim the benefits of serving patients in the community.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information recently released a report showing Ontario has not only the fewest beds per capita in Canada, but the second least in the 34 country OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Only Mexico has fewer beds per capita – for now.

In fact, the number of Ontarians hospitalized in 2010-11 was not only the lowest in Canada, but it was down 33.5 per cent from what it was in this province during 1995-1996.

Tom Closson, the former Chair of the Ontario Hospital Association, told the Toronto Star June 22 that the province has lost 50 per cent of its hospital beds per capita over the last two decades.

Ontario has just two beds per capita for every 1,000 residents.

Two.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged CIHI, hospital beds, hospital beds per capita, OECD hospital beds, only Mexico fewer beds, Orillia Soldiers Memorial Hospital, physiotherapy, Tom Closson

Fun with numbers – CIHI under fire for hospital rankings

Posted on May 23, 2012 | 2 comments

John Wright folded his arms looking more than a little apprehensive.

The CEO of the Canadian Institute for Health Information was about to address a room full of hospital officials, many upset about the Canadian Hospital Reporting Project (CHRP) launched a month earlier. The forum was the May 16 Breakfast with the Chiefs organized by publisher longwoods.com.

CHRP was supposed to be the ultimate benchmark, looking at data from 600 hospitals across Canada and involving 100,000 bits of information.

Wright said that CIHI had already experienced 80,000 hits on the site, which to some may suggest success, to others a quantification of the damage done to the reputation of their hospital.

Knowing the onslaught that was coming, Wright pointed out that “perfection is achieved by slow degrees. It needs the hand of time.”

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged CHRP, CIHI, Hamilton St. Joseph's Health Care, hospital performance data, John Wright, Kelly Isfan, Kevin Smith, Niagara Health System, Norfolk General Hospital, Ontario hospital administrative costs, Shalom Glouberman

Hospital quality issues picked out from the fast moving stream

Posted on April 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

We sometimes get asked about how we come up with stories for the Diablogue? For us, it’s not a matter of finding stories, but prioritizing material culled from a fast-moving stream.

Last week we focussed on the outrageous decision by Canadian Blood Services to increase imports of American-sourced plasma products while closing the last dedicated Canadian plasma donor clinic in Thunder Bay.

However, there are many issues out there, and only limited BLOG time for us. Here’s just a taste of some of the stories we missed last week:

Part of the fallout from the provincial budget is the decision to postpone a number of capital projects, including new hospitals. Nowhere is this being more felt that in Grimsby, where the community is upset that the new $138.8 million rebuild of the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital has been put on the shelf. The “Rallying for WLMH Committee” has called for a “massive rally” May 2nd. When the hospital faced closure in 1997, more than 7,000 people came out in a similar planned rally.

A new CIHI (Canadian Institute for Health Information) report raised eyebrows when Lakeridge Health and the University Health Network came out at the bottom of list of GTA hospitals. Lakeridge (with sites in Oshawa, Port Perry, Bowmanville and Whitby) pointed out that according to CIHI data, they were doing better than the provincial average on six of seven clinical performance indicators. That includes 80 per cent better than the provincial average when it comes to readmission after hip replacement surgery, and 30 per cent better on knee replacement surgery. An on-line tool that CIHI developed to rate hospitals crashed after it was swamped with users following a front page story in the Toronto Star.

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Posted in Ontario Health Coalition

Tagged Canadian Institute for Health Information, CIHI, Credit Valley Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, hospital food, Hyperbaric Chambers, Lakeridge Health, South Bruce Grey Health Centre, Trillium Health, West Lincoln Memorial Hospital

Less debt helped governments reinvest in health care — CIHI

Posted on November 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

There is no question that the last decade was a period of reinvestment in health care.

The recent report on health care cost drivers by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) suggests governments made a conscious decision to invest in health care when revenues became available from eliminating deficits and paying down debt.

By reducing the amount spent on servicing that debt, governments across Canada were able to increase spending on key areas at a rate that exceeded overall revenue growth.

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