Table of ContentsBackground: Health System EssayAnalysisExpanding Primary CareHome CareIncreasing LTC BedsRecommendationBackground: Health System EssayThe Canadian health system is the subject of this essay. The health care system in Canada funds medically necessary health care, including care provided in hospitals or by a physician. Canadians covered by a provincial insurance plan, such as the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), will receive care upon arrival at an acute care hospital. Wait times across the health care system are increasing every year. In hospitals, bed occupancy rates are considered safe up to 85%, but in 2015-16, 60% of Ontario community hospital medicine departments had unsafe occupancy rates above 85 %. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay As the population ages, the number of hospitals with unsafe occupancy continues to increase. This is partly due to the increase in Ontario's senior population as the baby boom generation, born between 1946 and 1965, ages. Use of health services increases with age, meaning older adults often require more visits to the family doctor, more hospital admissions, longer hospital stays and take more prescription drugs than their younger counterparts. In addition, approximately 25% of acute care beds are occupied. be occupied by people considered alternate level of care (ALC) patients whose needs can be better met in another context and who are often waiting for availability in long-term care (LTC). As beds become occupied by ALC patients, acute care hospitals lose the capacity to care for critically ill patients. Patient flow involving the transition of patients from inpatient acute care units to post-acute care hospitals, with many beds occupied by ALC patients, can lead to overcrowding and ultimately patients are treated in corridors and other ad hoc spaces. This demonstrates how system capacity is not optimally configured to meet the current needs of the ALC population, particularly for complex older patients who make up a large portion of the ALC population. In addition to system capacity, current legislation also creates challenges for these patients. The Canada Health Act describes the conditions that provincial and territorial health insurance programs must meet to receive their federal transfer payments. OHIP does not cover home and community care for all Ontarians, creating a barrier to accessing care for vulnerable people and their caregivers in the community. This may lead to an increase in acute care for older people. Overcrowding in hospitals affects a number of stakeholders, including: patient experience and quality of care; the experience of the caregiver and family members; clinicians who may be suffering from burnout, stress or harassment. ;hospital administrators who aim to please the aforementioned stakeholders;local health integration networks (LHINs) who govern specific areas;home care organizations such as Community Care Access Centers ( CASC);the government which is the main source of funding for hospitals. In addition to Among thesestakeholders, there are a number of non-governmental organizations that are actively interested in this issue, including: organizations that govern health professions, such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Ontario Medical Association , the Ontario Nurses Association; organizations focused on better care, like Health Quality Ontario; and more. It is necessary to consider these stakeholders when exploring solutions to hospital overcrowding. Analysis There are a number of policy options for reducing hospital overcrowding and the potential role of long-term care in this reduction. Three solutions, with their advantages and disadvantages, are suggested below. Expanding primary care The first option is to expand primary care to ensure all Ontarians have access to a family doctor, including seniors who live at home or are homebound. This approach involves ensuring that doctors are trained to identify geriatric, memory or dementia problems, as well as chronic diseases, as well as improving screening processes. Field experience shows that such clinics avoid unnecessary hospitalizations. This option will facilitate regular check-ins with a family doctor who will build a relationship and facilitate conversations about the patient's health and potential health concerns. The relationship between a patient and a doctor is the basis for navigating the healthcare system and ensures that the patient feels supported in all aspects of their life. their health and family life. It has been noted that some patients express to providers the challenges they face living at home, but the provider may not suggest a necessary change in environment when this might have been appropriate. Rather, a consistent relationship with the patient and physician will help the physician identify and suggest options to help the patient when the time is appropriate. This option is difficult because it involves considerable training for doctors and a change in workload to ensure that the doctor can spend appropriate time with the patient on a regular basis. This may include the use of a clinical model such as the Geriatric Assessment Clinic model which is currently in pilot phase to ensure primary care practices can support geriatric patients. This would involve identifying appropriate key performance indicators to ensure that comprehensive care is provided. A major problem with this solution is that it is preventative and does not solve the current crisis. For this model to be implemented, there would need to be a legislative change to facilitate an increase in the number of primary care physicians, encourage physicians to spend more time working with the patient and understanding their needs, provide incentives to using a model such as the Geriatric Assessment Clinic Model and encouraging physicians to work with LHINs to understand the social services currently available to patients. Home Care This option focuses on ensuring that patients can live at home for as long as they want and can receive community supports to meet their needs. Studies have shown that 37% of ALC patients awaiting placement in LTC do not have more urgent or complex care needs than those receiving home care awaiting long-term care. This leads to the ability of Ontario seniors to age in place, which plays a major role in..