Human Resources Legislative Update
Ontario Seeking Comments on Proposed Regulations Under the Connecting Care Act, 2019
Date: April 2, 2024
On March 28, 2024, the Ontario government posted Proposed New Regulations and Amendments to Regulations under the Connecting Care Act, 2019 and other Acts for comment from stakeholders.
The proposed regulations would support changes to the Connecting Care Act, 2019 (CCA) as amended by the Convenient Care at Home Act, 2023, which have not yet been proclaimed into force. The changes consolidate the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs)—known as the Home and Community Care Support Services (HCCSS)—to form a new organization, Ontario Health atHome, which will continue to provide services currently provided by the HCCSS.
Health service providers (HSPs) and Ontario health teams (OHTs) receive funding to provide home and community care services. These organizations would also receive operational support from Ontario Health atHome.
The proposed regulations would:
- define the length of a term (up to three years) for appointments to the board of directors of Ontario Health atHome, with no limit on the number of terms
- continue the appointment of the chief executive officer (CEO) of the HCCSS as CEO of Ontario Health atHome
- “ensure that when Ontario Health provides funding for home and community care services to an OHT, accountability under the CCA and its regulations for the provision of the home and community care services follows the funding to the individual OHT members which provide the services”
- “clarify that when an OHT’s Coordinating Corporation receives funding for home and community care services from Ontario Health and apportions it to other HSP members, it is those members, not the Coordinating Corporation or the other OHT members, that would be accountable for providing the funded services in accordance with requirements set out in legislation and regulations”
- “ensure accountability follows funding to frontline OHT members”
With respect to ambulance co-payments, proposed amendments would extend “the current exemption from ambulance co-payments for patients receiving professional services from an HCCSS organization to include patients receiving such services from HSPs (including Ontario Health atHome) and HSPs within OHTs.”
Proposed regulatory amendments would also exempt Ontario Health atHome from some legislative provisions that apply to HSPs as, unlike those organizations, Ontario Health atHome will be a Crown agency.
Consequential legislative amendments would also be made to reflect the new terminology, among other things.
Comments on these proposed changes are due by May 12, 2024.
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