Is our website working for you? (Fill us & our survey in!)

Tell us why -- or why not -- by filling out our six-question survey. It’s been almost a year since we launched our new online meeting place. Along the way, as our following grows, we’ve kept you posted about what we are thinking, doing, and becoming. Now, it’s time to ask: what can we add, change, lose? Your participation will help us better meet your needs – and might land you a prize. The three alluring rewards include: an individual Longwoods publication subscription and two IPod Shuffles. Spare us a minute, affect Change. Click here. (Survey ends November 28, 2008)

The Change Foundation releases a user-friendly guide to LHIN legislation

There has been an enormous amount of work done to get the LHINs up and running and immersed in integrating health services. Amid the flurry, a union has issued (and lost) a legal challenge to a LHIN decision, some accountability agreements have not been reached, and supervisors have headed into hospitals to help them meet new mandated requirements. Given that much of the LHIN legislation is untested, it’s not surprising that questions – and confusion – about rules, authority and ambiguities abound. To help understand those rules, The Change Foundation commissioned Health Law & Policy firm Osborne Margo to produce a plain-language guide to the key elements of the legislation governing the LHINs, read Structure, Powers and Accountability of Local Health Integration Networks.

Toronto Central CCAC and Toronto Western Hospital next picks for project to improve Hospital-to-Home transitions

The second and final phase of The Change Foundation’s joint quality improvement project with OACCAC – Having Their Say and Choosing Their Way: helping patients & caregivers move from hospital to home - continues this fall in Toronto in partnership with the Toronto Central CCAC and Toronto Western Hospital. The report from phase 1 (South East CCAC and Trenton Memorial Hospital) helped to inform a recent discussion of CCAC senior directors on best practices in the area. Read the report from phase 1, and stay tuned for phase 2 results by the end of the year

CHQI hosts Flo learning sessions and launches new Quality by Design book

The Centre for Health Quality Improvement (CHQI) at The Change Foundation is off to a busy start since joining the team last July. CHQI hosted a senior leadership session Sept.19th for the Flo Collaborative focused on Sustainability and Spread of Quality Improvement, attracting over 200 Ontario health-care leaders. The forum featured keynote speaker Dr. Lynn Maher, UK National Health Service Institute for Innovation and Improvement. Read her presentation.

Later that month, CHQI hosted a successful Learning Session for the Flo Collaborative Improvement Teams. Learn more here.

Longwoods Publishing is releasing High Performing Healthcare Systems: Delivering Quality by Design, which distills key learnings from case studies of high performing health-care systems from around the world. The lead author is Ross Baker from the University of Toronto, who received a research grant from CHQI's predecessor, OHPI. The book is being launched October 15th, at an event sponsored by HPME at the University of Toronto, Longwoods, and The Change Foundation. To order, please visit Longwoods.

Build your brain with our new acrostic puzzle challenge

Word junkies and trivia buffs can now turn to a new and regular Top of Mind feature to exercise their cranium: The Change Foundation’s acrostic puzzle challenge. It was created by communications guru John Burghardt, who brought us our tagline: health care deserves our finest thought. An acrostic is a poem or a puzzle in which the first or last letter of each line spell out a word, phrase, or name. Acrostic originates from the Latin 'akron' (end) and 'stickhos' (line of verse). The acrostic will reveal quotes or titles related to health care. Here’s a clue to get you started on our first one: This quote comes from a former health commissioner who attended our May Meeting of the Minds exchange. Put on your thinking cap and get started. First completed entry will receive a $45 gift certificate from Chapters Books.

The Change Foundation, P.O. Box 42, 200 Front Street West, Suite 2501, Toronto, ON, M5V 3M1, Phone: 416.205.1353, Fax: 416.205.1440

Feedback appreciated. Please contact Anila Sunnak (asunnak@changefoundation.com).

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