The EasT-FPN Current Initiatives
The East Toronto Family Practice Network (EasT-FPN) is actively helping their community to work towards their vision to build a better system in order to assist patients. The EasT-FPN, its membership and staff, have been actively involved in participating within the community and are actively engaged in voluntary community work outside of their primary care practice.
Take a look below for some of the current EasT-FPN collaboration efforts. Please contact the EasT-FPN if you do not see your event/news/achievements on here and would like to have it captured on the website as well as if you believe the EasT-FPN should be involved in any other initiatives.
Register here to be notified and/or participate in any of the current EasT-FPN initiatives.
HEALTH ACCESS TAYLOR-MASSEY
Health Access Taylor-Massey (HATM), a new healthcare, community and social services centre, is now open in Crescent Town! It offers connections to services and resources, including COVID-19 supports, to people who live in the Taylor-Massey neighbourhood and surrounding areas.
The goal is to improve the health and well-being of local residents by making it easier for people to find the care they need in one place that is close to home. The diverse team of healthcare providers includes family doctors, nurses, mental health counsellors, a resource navigator and others.
To learn more about Health Access Taylor-Massey, including address, hours and services, visit ethp.ca/HATM. We encourage you to share this information with your family and friends who live in and around Taylor-Massey!
TORONTO EAST SCHOOL SUPPORT
Toronto East School Support (TESS), a forum created by the EasT-FPN and Michael Garron Hospital (MGH), provides local schools with practical COVID-19 information regarding implementing various health guidelines and a Q & A opportunity with Dr. Janine McCready, Associate Director, Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) at MGH. Click here to submit questions to Dr. McCready. Take a look at the past notes, summary documents and compilation of Q&A sessions here. Please contact the EasT-FPN to join the next TESS forum.
IN THE NEWS:
Toronto hospital, doctors support East-End schools as classes resume. See here
The Star: Educators have become the first line of COVID-19 defence - See here how MGH and other doctors are providing direct line of support for schools
CTV News: Toronto launches back-to-school outreach. Thank you to Dr. Janine McCready who highlighted the partnership between MGH and EasT-FPN as well its purpose!
ETHP & TPH Primary Care COVID-19 Vaccine Program
Toronto Public Health has a new system for their Toronto Primary Care COVID-19 vaccine program.
All sites that wish to continue providing vaccine, please complete TPH's updated enrollment request form. Once completed enrollment request forms have been received and processed, a member of the TPH team will connect sites with OntarioMD to obtain COVaxON IDs with TPH as the Authorizing Organization. If you have any questions, please contact COVID Vaccine Order at COVIDVaccineOrder@toronto.ca.
PRIMARY CARE COVID-19 INFO WITH IPAC
The EasT-FPN initiated the primary care forum allowing family practitioners to call in bi-weekly, now monthly to speak with Dr. Jeff Powis, Medical Director (IPAC) at MGH. Within the forum, participants receive the latest information available on COVID and are able to ask questions in real-time-pertinent to everyone’s practice. Sessions have been well attended with the last session having 89 video connections. Click here to submit questions ahead of time to Dr. Powis. Join the EasT-FPN at the next forum.
For the most recent open forum with Dr. Jeff Powis held on November 22, 2023, please take a look at the summary note, presentation slides and the forum recording.
Take a look at the compilation of questions and summary documents for previous sessions that highlight updates, questions and resources shared during the forum
MRP: Dr. Karen Chu
Primary and Community Care (PCC) Response Teams
Partners by geographic area are creating virtual care teams, targeting Community Housing units housing the frail and vulnerable populations in East Toronto with the aim to ensure they have the care that they need.
Our Vision: East Toronto residents have access to ‘one team’ of health and social care providers working in partnership with local communities to meet their needs.
Primary and Community Care (PCC) Response Teams help vulnerable adults by developing a coordinated care plan that addresses the various social determinants of health that may affect their well-being. Click here for more information and how you can refer clients to PCC response teams.
IN THE NEWS:
See here how Providence, MGH and the EasT-FPN work to deliver primary care and interdisciplinary services directly in high-needs areas of our community
Dr. Catherine Yu and Dr. Tia Pham
SCOPE- One Number to Call
The Seamless Care Optimizing Patient Experience (SCOPE) is a program aimed to connect primary care providers with hospital based specialists and community based resources for optimal patient care. SCOPE simplifies the process of accessing multiple resources by providing a virtual interdisciplinary team for primary care through one point of contact,
Read about how the SCOPE program is targeted and integrated in the East Toronto Community.
The platform has expanded to include:
Palliative Care Services
Specialist Geriatric programs for Long-term Care (LTC) and Retirement homes
Expanded hours for Nurse Navigation services
Psychiatry services allowing to physician to physician consults.
Click here for a full list of services that SCOPE offers and how to register for it.
MRP: Dr. Ruth Hussman
LTC FACILITIES AND PHYSICIANS SERVING RETIREMENT HOMES
The EasT-FPN, in collaboration with MGH, have coordinated bi-weekly, now quarterly virtual forums to support, advice and inform Long-term care (LTC) facilities and retirement homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. These meetings link direct care leaders with MGH specialists including Dr. Jarred Rosenberg and the Nurse Led Outreach Team (NLOT) as well as Toronto Public Health (TPH) and OH Home & Community Care.
Take a look at the summary documents that include discussion highlights, questions raised and resources shared during each of the LTC Support Discussion and Retirement Home Support Discussion Forums. Join the EasT-FPN at the next LTC or Retirement Home forum - click here for the exact dates of each forum.
IN THE NEWS:
“You cannot give someone a bath from 6 feet away” - See here on what it has been like to work at a long-term care facility amidst a pandemic. Featuring Dr. Brad Birmingham and the partnership between Chester Village, EasT-FPN & MGH
Providing support to long-term care facilities - A new initiative recognizing the world of EasT-FPN & MGH
MRP: Dr. Ruth Hussman (Retirement) and Dr. Brad Birmingham (LTC)
DIGITAL NAVIGATION
Primary care practices have been digitally isolated from the rest of the health care system. This has negatively affected patient care and increased physician workload.
As the ETHP (East Toronto Health Partners/OHT) evolves into an integrated care delivery system, it is critical that appropriate IT and digital technologies are in place to provide the infrastructure that enables a better-connected and integrated health system. Regional, and provincial-wide IT infrastructure initiatives are emerging that will have significant positive short- and long-term impacts on your daily clinical practice.
Current Initiatives
Secure Messaging (Provider-to-provider)
Hypercare provides secure messaging via phone or web browser to communicate with other healthcare providers within the EasT-FPN and at Michael Garron Hospital (MGH), and to connect with the SCOPE program (see details on SCOPE below)
Hypercare is available to all Family Physicians and Nurse Practitioners who are active in East Toronto and credentialed with MGH.
Read here how Hypercare is being used and for success stories of improved patient care, including preventing emergency department visits.
e-Referral
Ocean eReferral is continuing to expand in East Toronto with the support of EasT-FPN - enhancing communication between primary care providers and specialists/organizations and simplifying the referral process, and improving the patient experience
Ocean eReferral is offered with change management services for adoption and implementation at no cost to family physicians and nurse practitioners.
Learn more about the 100+ Toronto specialists and clinics receiving e-referrals here
Join the 130+ family doctors and nurse practitioners in East Toronto already on board, and sign up for Ocean eReferral here
Online Appointment Booking (OAB)
Online appointment booking (OAB) solutions improve patient access to family doctors and nurse practitioners, and through automated appointment confirmations, and reminders, can reduce missed appointments, and booking confusion, and decrease the administrative burden for clinics.
New funding is available to cover technology fees and change management initiatives associated with adopting OAB.
SCOPE
EasT-FPN continues to support the expansion of the SCOPE program for family doctors and nurse practitioners in East Toronto
The program provides direct access to navigation and a range of specialists in a timely manner to help primary care providers provide the best care to their patients, so as to best support the day-to-day work of primary care
Click here for more information, and to sign-up to access the spectrum of SCOPE services
EMERGING INITIATIVES
Digital Front Door (DFD)
EasT-FPN is supporting the ongoing development of a next generation Digital Front Door. This platform is intended to provide an accessible entry point for patients to tell their own “enriched stories.” The goal is to provide digital navigation to the most appropriate service across East Toronto services, and a significantly improved patient experience.
Anticipatory and Integrated Primary Care Program
The Digital Health team at EasT-FPN is contributing to the development of a platform to proactively anticipate individual- and population-level health needs and connect with appropriate health services by leveraging and linking existing databases.
“Axe the Fax”
EasT-FPN is engaging with the Ministry of Health to provide input and consultation regarding needs, priorities and opportunities for the evolution of fax-based communications in East Toronto.
If you are interested to learn more or want to be engaged email us at contact@eastfpn.org.
MRP: Dr. Stephen Pomedli