FORUM CELEBRATES INNOVATION IN HEALTH CARE

VANCOUVER – Health professionals from across the province gather today for a day-long forum hosted by Health Minister George Abbott that showcases Health Innovation Fund projects from the $100-million fund and allows participants to share ideas and discuss the role of innovation in the future of B.C.’s health-care system.

More than 150 participants, including doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals, will attend the Health Innovation Fund Best Practices Forum at the Morris J. Wosk Centre in Vancouver.

“Today we will celebrate the early successes of 10 health innovation projects from across British Columbia, and we will hear about exciting initiatives that are easing emergency department wait times and improving care for seniors and individuals with chronic diseases,” said Abbott. “Importantly, all participants have the opportunity today to share ideas and best practices and, through this exchange of dialogue, we can work together to ensure that communities around the province will continue to see the benefits of innovation in health care for years to come.”

The $100-million Health Innovation Fund was created in Budget 2007 to provide health authorities with funding to allow them to undertake projects that focus on new and innovative ways to improve patient care. Funded projects focus on three key strategic areas: emergency room decongestion, to improve efficiency and reduce emergency wait times; primary health-care services, to improve care at the community level; and pay for performance, which uses financial incentives to increase productivity and quality of care. In total, 51 projects – 29 major initiatives and 22 smaller scale projects – received monies from this one-time fund.

The forum, entitled Early Successes in Advancing Best Practices, features presentations by project leaders from all six health authorities and provides presenters with the opportunity to highlight the early successes of their projects and also to outline challenges and lessons learned.

“Health Innovation funding allows us to think outside the box when it comes to new ways of providing the best health-care services for our patients,” said Wynne Powell, chair of the Provincial Health Services Authority. “Today’s presentations and discussions will provide health-care professionals with some great ideas that will enable them to design similar projects in their home communities.”

The Conversation Café, a 40-minute interactive session at the end of the forum, provides attendees with the opportunity to share ideas and to ask questions and provide feedback to project organizers.

“Kelowna General Hospital has seen tremendous growth over the past few years and health innovation funding has enabled us to implement a project that has decreased patient wait times significantly in the emergency department – specifically, time to see the physician — and considerably increased patient and staff satisfaction,” said Dr. Mike Ertel, physician director and head of emergency medicine at KGH. “Our initiative, the KGH Streaming Project, is the best thing I’ve seen in my 15 years in emergency medicine, and it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to share some of our early successes with colleagues from around the province.”

The Health Innovation Fund supports the Province’s Pacific Leadership Agenda to improve the health of British Columbians and renew the public health system.

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1 backgrounder(s) attached.
Media contact:	Marisa Adair Communications Director Ministry of Health 250 920-8500 (cell) 250 952-1889 (media line)

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