Waiting-home-care-services-nursing - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Percentage of home care patients whose wait time for their first nursing visit was within five days from the date they were authorized for nursing services by the LHIN

Alternate Name

Percentage of home care patients aged 19 and older who received their first nursing visit within five days of service authorization

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the percentage of home care patients authorized for nursing services who received their first nursing visit within five days. The wait time is described as the number of days between service authorization date and the date of formal in-home nursing. A higher percentage is better.

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Timely

Type

Process

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Percentage

Calculation Methods

Numerator divided by the denominator times 100

Numerator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

The number of home care patients who received their first nursing service visit within five days of the date they were authorized for nursing services by the LHIN.

Denominator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

The number of adult home care patients who received in-home nursing services

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- generalized

None

Data Source

Client Health and Related Information System (CHRIS), Home Care Database (HCD)

Data provided to HQO by

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC)

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Region, Time

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

Each case is reported under the fiscal year and quarter in which the home care patient received their first home care service. Since wait times are not counted until the patient has received the service, wait lists in LHINs can impact the indicator results.

Comments Summary

This indicator was developed by a working group with representation from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (ministry), Community Care Access Centres (CCACs), Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), the Ontario Community Support Association (OCSA), and Health Quality Ontario (HQO). Home care assessments occur over a period of time rather than on a single date. A number of possible dates could be used to measure the wait from assessment, including the date of initial assessment (start of the assessment stage) or the service authorization date (end of the assessment stage). The benefit to using service authorization date is that it applies to both new patients as well as patients starting other services.