Health Association Nova Scotia Once Again Named One of Atlantic Canada s Top Employers

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A Publication for Members of Health Association Nova Scotia January 15, 2016 WHAT S INSIDE: Page 1 Health Association Nova Scotia Once Again Named One of Atlantic Canada s Top Employers Health

1 A Publication for Members of Health Association Nova Scotia January 15, 2016 WHAT S INSIDE: Page 1 Health Association Nova Scotia Once Again Named One of Atlantic Canada s Top Employers Health Association Nova Scotia Once Again Named One of Atlantic Canada s Top Employers Page 2 7th Edition of the ADODCC Released Under a New Name - Dementia: Understanding the Journey Page 3 Upcoming Conferences Page 4 Health Association Nova Scotia has been selected as one of Atlantic Canada s Top 25 Employers for This year s winners were announced on Jaunary 6, 2016 in a special editorial feature published in Atlantic Business magazine s January 2016 issue. As with December s announcement that the Association was selected as one of Nova Scotia s Top Employers, this is the third year in a row that we have received this distinction. Grants Process Enhances Transparency Page 5 Online News You May Have Missed New Data on Health System Performance Indicators is Now Available Page 6 Lower Seniors Pharmacare Co-pays Begin April 1, 2016 Canadian Patient Safety Officer Course Employers are evaluated by the editors of Canada s Top 100 Employers using the same eight criteria as the national competition: (1) Physical Workplace; (2) Work Atmosphere & Social; (3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; (4) Vacation & Time Off; (5) Employee Communications; (6) Performance Management; (7) Training & Skills Development; and (8) Community Involvement. Employers are compared to other organizations in their field to determine which offers the most progressive and forward-thinking programs. Some of the reasons we were selected for this year s award were the comprehensive pension and benefit packages offered to employees, our maternity and parental leave top-up payments, and the level of charitable involvement by Health Association employees. Complete details can be found at eluta.ca/top-employer-health-associationnova-scotia A complete list of Atlantic Canada s Top Employers for 2016 can be found at atlantic/ 2 Dartmouth Rd. Bedford, Nova Scotia B4A 2K healthassociation.ns.ca 1

7th Edition of the ADODCC Released Under a New Name - Dementia: Understanding the Journey The Alzheimer s Disease and Other Dementias Care Course is now operating under a new name for its 7th Edition.

2 7th Edition of the ADODCC Released Under a New Name - Dementia: Understanding the Journey The Alzheimer s Disease and Other Dementias Care Course is now operating under a new name for its 7th Edition. The new name, Dementia: Understanding the Journey, speaks to the competencies required to provide support to persons living with dementia. The person with dementia and their significant others are going through a journey; this course helps learners understand that journey, understand that the journey is individual, and provides strategies for providing supports to the person with dementia and their families. Since its conception in 1991, the course has met significant milestones and gone through several evolutions in order to best offer education to people providing care to persons with dementia. The 7th Edition remains a foundational education course, addressing a variety of topics for supporting persons with dementia. The new edition has incorporated new knowledge and understanding with a stronger focus on supporting people across the continuum of dementia, relationship-based care, and promoting person-centeredness. Supporting persons with dementia involves many disciplines within a health care system; Dementia: Understanding the Journey is developed for all care providers regardless of experience or educational background. Each session leads into the next, supporting the care practices collaboratively and collectively. Earlier sessions provide the information to set up relationships, approaches, and environments that best meet the needs of the person living with dementia. As the course progresses, tools and approaches are offered to assist the care provider in recognizing when to change his/her own perceptions and methods to better support persons with dementia. The course is a required education component for Continuing Care Assistants, Licensed Practical Nurses, and most recently, for Dalhousie University nursing students. Dementia: Understanding the Journey offers its learners: a holistic, person-centered philosophy to understanding dementia strategies to maintain a balance between offering support and encouraging independence strategies to maintain a person s identity, dignity, and self-esteem strategies to provide quality care using an interdisciplinary team approach tools to assist in understanding and responding to behaviours Contact Barb Salkin, barbara.salkin@healthassociation.ns.ca or Pam Shipley, pam.shipley@healthassociation.ns.ca for more information. Education Makes a Difference 2

3 Upcoming Conferences INFORMATION WITHOUT BORDERS CONFERENCE (IWB) On February 10th, 2016, the 10th annual student-run Information Without Borders Conference (IWB) will be held in the McInnes Room at Dalhousie University s Student Union Building. The topic for the 2016 conference is Managing Health Information: Technologies and Strategies for the 21st Century. Featuring Dr. Robert Strang (Nova Scotia s Chief Public Health Officer) and Gail Crook (CEO and Registrar of the Canadian Health Information Management Association) as keynote speakers, discussion at the conference will consider the following aspects of health-related information: How the management of health care data and records is evolving Where consumers turn to for reliable and accessible health information How Health Informatics and emerging information technologies transform health care The role of Information Managers in supporting evidence-based health decisions Other speakers include: Tara Sampalli, Nova Scotia Health Authority Syed Sibte Raza Abidi, Director of Health Informatics, Dalhousie University Gail Tomblin Murphy, School of Nursing, Dalhousie University Debbie Martin, School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University Registration is now open at a cost of $25 + a nominal Eventbrite fee for students, and $95 + a nominal Eventbrite fee for professionals & community members. Registration includes access to all events, breakfast, lunch and a gift bag. Registration closes Monday, February 1. For more information, please iwb@dal.ca or visit our website at CADTH SYMPOSIUM Expanding the Reach of Health Technology Assessment - April 10 to 12, Shaw Centre, Ottawa, ON Initially established as a tool for policy-makers, health technology assessment (HTA) now supports a much broader range of decision-makers. Everyone whether technology developers in academic settings and industry, patients, clinicians, regional health authority and hospital administrators, or private sector insurers can benefit from the evidence produced by HTA bodies. Because HTA wasn t originally designed with these stakeholders in mind, do its processes and outputs need to change to make it easier for clinicians, patients, and other key stakeholders to integrate evidence into their decision-making? Join patients, clinicians, researchers, and a wide range of Canadian and international experts at the 2016 CADTH Symposium to explore the needs of different decision-makers, the barriers to evidence adoption, and how HTA is improving health care decisionmaking by bringing evidence to everyone. For more information visit: ARCC CONFERENCE 2016 The 2016 conference will be held in Toronto from May 8-9, 2016 and registration and abstract submission are now open. The ARCC conference is the only dedicated applied cancer research conference in Canada, with the objective of bridging a connection between researchers and decision-makers, using health economics, services, policy and ethics research to improve cancer control and the delivery of cancer care. For more information or to register go to 3

Grants Process Enhances Transparency, External Review The province is asking for interested community groups to apply for mental health and addictions funding under a new, more transparent and

4 Grants Process Enhances Transparency, External Review The province is asking for interested community groups to apply for mental health and addictions funding under a new, more transparent and accountable grants process. "We have reviewed best practices across Canada and believe we are embarking in a new, positive direction for those involved in the mental health and addictions field," said Leo Glavine, Minister of Health and Wellness. "Our goal is to ensure that the best programs are supported so they can deliver the greatest value to those who need help." The grants are a key component of the province's Together We Can mental health and addictions strategy, released in May These grants support not-for-profit community organizations as they work to improve the lives of individuals and their families who are living with mental health and addiction issues. Groups can apply each year for grants of up to $150,000. With the new process projects valued at more than $30,000 will be evaluated by independent peer reviewers and an independent review board. People who use mental health and addictions services will provide valuable input on how projects may help those who need them. Previously, branch staff would review proposals and invite several content experts to provide feedback. Final approval rests with the province. The Halifax-Dartmouth branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association received a grant from October 2014 to November 2015 to begin its Creative Collaborative Communities Project. This was a partnership between Self-Help Connection, the Canadian Mental Health Association's Colchester-East Hants branch, and Dalhousie University's School of Health and Human Performance. "Through this grant we were able to embark on a journey that hasn't been chartered before in our community allowing us to work with our partners more closely, express ourselves creatively and visually while learning how we can share resources, break down barriers, develop trust, and greater collaboration," said Bev Cadham, branch co-manager for the Canadian Mental Health Association Halifax-Dartmouth. "More and more, our communities need to be working together to build our capacity and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness." Grants help create and run programs for at-risk children and youth, aboriginal and diverse communities, mental health and addictions promotion, primary care, seniors, reducing stigma and discrimination, people with disabilities, the workplace, substance abuse and gambling. Letters of intent will be accepted until Jan. 29, After that, groups that qualify will be invited to submit a grant application. Information on the grants can be found at novascotia.ca/dhw/mental-health/mental-health-addiction-strategy.asp. (Source: DHW News Release, January 12, 2016) Health Association Nova Scotia has Twitter Tweet us or follow 4

5 Online News You May Have Missed December 16, Caregiving for Older Adults with Disabilities: Present Costs, Future Challenges Canada needs a comprehensive strategy to support family caregivers, who bear a disproportionate share of the cost of assisting adults with long-term disabilities, according to a new study by the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Families are struggling to meet conflicting demands of paid work and care giving. For many the difficulty of balancing both responsibilities has left them no choice but to miss days at work or reduce their paid work hours, says author Janet Fast. Those who provide more hours of care are more likely to quit their jobs and may even be fired putting them at greater risk of experiencing poor social, economic and health outcomes. December 8, 2015 Electronic Medical Records Use Tripled in Nine Years - Canadian primary care EMR adoption and use continues to grow More and more Canadian physicians are embracing digital health according to the recently released Commonwealth Fund s 2015 International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Doctors. In fact, nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of Canadian primary care physicians report using an electronic medical record (EMR), improving from 23 per cent in the 2006 survey results. Over the past nine years, we have seen significant growth in EMR adoption and use among Canadian primary care physicians, explained Lynne Zucker, Vice President, Canada Health Infoway. We re also seeing that more and more of these physicians are using their EMRs functionality to access information and support their patients care. We anticipate this figure will continue to climb with more mature use. news-events/newsroom/2015-news-releases/6720- electronic-medical-records-use-tripled-in-nine-years New Data on Health System Performance Indicators is Now Available New data on a number of health system performance indicators is now available in the interactive Your Health System web tool created by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). This one-of-a-kind tool allows users to access an array of health system data on hospitals, long-term care (LTC) facilities and the health of Canadians across the country. The December 16, 2015 release includes updated results for important measures under 6 themes: access, safety, appropriateness and effectiveness, social determinants, health status and spending. Users of Your Health System can access results for hospitals and LTC homes at the provincial, regional and facility levels and see whether these organizations are performing above or below the Canadian average. The information available in the tool helps people understand where a facility is doing well, where improvement is needed and how performance has changed over time. Population health indicators are reported provincially and regionally. For more information (Source: CIHI News Release, December 16, 2015) 5

Lower Seniors Pharmacare Co-pays Begin Changes to the Seniors Pharmacare program mean Nova Scotians enrolled in the program will soon pay less each time April 1, 2016 they pick up a prescription.

6 Lower Seniors Pharmacare Co-pays Begin Changes to the Seniors Pharmacare program mean Nova Scotians enrolled in the program will soon pay less each time April 1, 2016 they pick up a prescription. provincial organization that promotes quality of life for Nova Scotia seniors. Basing premiums on income is a more equitable funding approach, and reducing the prescription co-pay should help those on fixed incomes to manage their Starting April 1, Seniors Pharmacare members will start costs. Changes to the Seniors Pharmacare program mean Nova Scotians enrolled in the program will soon pay less each time they pick paying a 20 per cent co-payment for each prescription, down up a prescription. from 30 per cent, to a maximum co-pay of $382 a year. We made these changes because a senior earning more than $100,000 a year should not pay the same premium as Starting April 1, 2016, Seniors' Pharmacare members will start paying a 20 per cent co-payment for each prescription, down from The changes also mean that seniors with lower incomes someone earning only $24,000, said Mr. Glavine. 30 per cent, to a maximum co-pay of $382 a year. are no longer expected to pay the same premiums as those with higher incomes. This change is a fair approach In the weeks ahead, Pharmacare members and Nova The changes also mean that seniors with lower incomes are no longer expected to pay the same premiums as those with higher and consistent with the way rates are set for many other Scotians approaching age 65 will start to receive information incomes. This change is a fair approach and consistent with the way rates are set for many other programs. Most members will pay programs. Most members will pay the same premium or less packages about the program. the same premium or less than they do now. than they do now. For more information, visit "Because of our government's changes, 12,000 seniors who previously paid a premium won't pay one this year," said Health and Because of our government s changes, 12,000 seniors who Wellness Minister Leo Glavine. "Our changes also mean that 29,000 seniors will pay a reduced premium." previously paid a premium won t pay one this year, said (Source: CIHI News Release, December 16, 2015) Health and Wellness Minister Leo Glavine. Our changes also "This is good news for low to moderate income seniors," said Anne Corbin, executive director, Community Links, a provincial mean that 29,000 seniors will pay a reduced premium. organization that promotes quality of life for Nova Scotia seniors. "Basing premiums on income is a more equitable funding approach, and reducing the prescription co-pay should help those on fixed incomes to manage their costs." This is good news for low to moderate income seniors, said Anne Corbin, executive director, Community Links, a "We made these changes because a senior earning more than $100,000 a year should not pay the same premium as someone earning only $24,000," said Mr. Glavine. In the weeks ahead, Pharmacare members and Nova Scotians approaching age 65 will start to receive information packages about the program. For more information, visit (Source: DHW News Release, January 15, 2016) Canadian Patient Safety Officer Course The Canadian Patient Safety Officer Course is jointly developed and delivered by the Canadian Patient Safety Institute and HealthCareCAN, supported by experts from across Canada and internationally. Providing an overview of the fundamentals of patient safety, the Canadian Patient Safety Officer Course equips healthcare professionals and leaders with the information, tools, and techniques to build a strong patient safety culture within their organizations. including patient safety officers, clinical managers, nurses, physicians, educators, and allied health professionals. The CPSO Course is available in two delivery models: in-person or online. The next in-person course is scheduled for May 31st June 3rd, 2016 in Ottawa, ON. For more information on both the online and in-person courses visit en/education/psoc/pages/default.aspx 6 The CPSO Course is intended for healthcare professionals and leaders who have the formal responsibility of disseminating patient safety principles and programs throughout the organization

Annual Report April 1, 2017 March 31, 2018

Dementia: Understanding the Journey Annual Report April 1, 2017 March 31, 2018 Table of Contents About Us 1 Our Mission 1 Vision 1 Values 1 Message from the Chair 2 Accomplishing Our Goals 3 Continuously