ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Dept. File No. CC23-95
Date: June 26, 1995
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of Continuing Care
SUBJECT: Intake Review and Improvement Project
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the allocation of up to $17,000 by the
Vancouver Health Department to fund its share of the Intake
Review and Improvement Project. This funding is to be
provided from the Continuing Care Division surplus account and
will not result in any net cost to the City.
B. THAT Council approve the receipt by the Vancouver Health
Department of funding for the Intake Review and Improvement
Project from the participating hospitals to a total of
approximately $28,000.
C. THAT Council approve the hiring of KPMG as the consultant for
the Intake Review and Improvement Project up to an amount of
$45,000, including G.S.T.
D. THAT Council authorize the Medical Health Officer to sign the
contract with KPMG for the Intake Review and Improvement
Project.
MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of A,
B, C, and D.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council approval is required for the award of consultant contracts over
$30,000.
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to seek Council's approval to allocate up
to $17,000 from the Vancouver Health Department's Continuing Care
Division surplus account, and approve receipt of up to $28,000 from
participating hospitals in order to undertake the Intake Review and
Improvement Project. In addition, the report seeks Council's approval
to hire KPMG as the consultant for the Intake Review and Improvement
Project up to an amount of $45,000, and to authorize the Medical Health
Officer to sign the contract with KPMG for the Intake Review and
Improvement Project.
DISCUSSION
The Continuing Care Division of the Vancouver Health Department, in
conjunction with the following hospitals: Vancouver Hospital and Health
Sciences Centre, St. Paul's Hospital, B.C. Children's Hospital, B.C.
Rehabilitation Society, B.C. Cancer Agency, St. Vincent's Hospital, and
Mount St. Joseph's Hospital, is undertaking a project to review the
current systems for intake to Continuing Care, and to develop a business
plan for improving and streamlining the overall process. The project
will focus on hospital referrals to Continuing Care, as well as
community referrals to Continuing Care.
There will be various components to the project including: the design of
a Continuing Care intake system which meets the needs of clients as well
as the demands of the hospital/community care system; the development of
an information systems strategy to support the Continuing Care intake
system; and a plan to support the cost-effective utilization of
Continuing Care staff involved in referral and intake activities. As
well, in light of the growing pressures to provide more care in the
community, the project will examine opportunities and requirements for
increasing the capacity of Continuing Care to accept client referrals.
The project will take place from July 1995 to December 1995, including
an intensive 6-8 week period in the fall. Overall direction will be
provided by the Project Steering Committee, which includes senior
representatives from each of the participating organizations. Two
working groups, comprising service level staff from each organization
will be directly involved in re-designing the intake processes. The
final report will be submitted to Vancouver Continuing Care, along with
each of the participating hospitals.
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A consultant is to be hired to coordinate the project, to direct the
redesign process, and to produce a comprehensive business plan. A
detailed Request for Proposal was developed, and was issued to four (4)
consulting firms. Selection criteria were developed. Three (3)
proposals were received. Members of the selection committee reviewed
and scored each proposal independently based upon the selection
criteria. The committee subsequently discussed each proposal in turn. In
both cases (independent review and group review) the firm of KPMG was
chosen unanimously by the Selection Committee. The KPMG bid price was
the lowest among the proposals received.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The budget for the Intake Review and Improvement Project is
approximately $45,000. Agreement has been reached with the
participating hospitals to share in the costs of the project. A formula
was applied based upon the relative utilization of Continuing Care
services by the participating hospitals. Funding is to be provided by
the participating hospitals up to an amount of $28,000 in total.
Vancouver Continuing Care is to fund up to $17,000 of the total project
costs. Vancouver Continuing Care is the sponsor of the project, and
will be the primary recipient of the intake system changes and
improvements which will be produced.
Vancouver Continuing Care's portion of the project costs is to be funded
from its provincially funded surplus account, at no net cost to the
City.
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
By streamlining and improving the system by which referrals are made to
Continuing Care from either a hospital or from the community, client
responsiveness will be improved. The referral system will become more
client-focussed, seeking to ensure that the "right services are being
provided by the right people at the right time". In addition, the
working relationships between Continuing Care and the hospitals in
Vancouver, which are critical during this period of health reform, will
be further enhanced.
CONCLUSION
Council should approve the recommendations of the Director of Continuing
Care.
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