wait-time-home-care-services - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Wait Times for Home Care Services

Alternate Name

Median wait time for a client between application for home care services or hospital discharge and first service

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This is the median number of days that new clients of publicly funded home care, who are 19 years or older, waited for home care. It is measured from a request for services to their first home visit for those who applied in the community, or from hospital discharge to their first home visit for those who applied in the hospital. A lower number of days is better. Median is the midpoint of days waited; half the clients waited shorter times, half waited longer times. Services include nursing (administering medication and changing dressings), and personal support for complex needs (such as assistance with bathing and eating).

HQO Reporting tool/product

On-Line Public Reporting, Public Reports (annual report, bulletins and theme reports)

Dimension

Timely

Type

Outcome

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Days

Calculation Methods

The wait time is calculated as the number of days between two time points.

Calculation:

Select service date for the time period of interest
Identify client eligibility for home care
Determine if the application was from community or hospital using the Intake Referral Source
Calculate the number of days between application date and first non-case management service date
Calculate the median number of days between the application date and the first non-case management service date

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

Wait time, in days, between application/discharge and first service

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

N/A (no denominator because value will be given as a median)

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

Health Shared Services Ontario (HSSO), Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC)

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Other, Province, Region, Time

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

Only applies to new home care clients. There could be wait lists in place in some LHINs which would affect the performance in a specific period since the clients will not be counted until the service is delivered. Each case is reported under the fiscal year and quarter in which the client received their first home care service. Approximately 3% of records per fiscal year are dropped due to invalid (less than 0 days) or implausible (more than 365 days) wait times.

Comments Summary

The term "client" is used in public reporting to denote an individual who received home care services. Other organizations may use the term "patient". Both terms refer to the same home care recipients.