Hospitals are facing a growing challenge with Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients who occupy acute care beds despite no longer requiring acute treatment, due to limited community support and home care services. This inefficiency not only contributes to patient care delays but also leads to rising healthcare costs. Norfolk General Hospital (NGH) seeks to address these challenges by seeking innovative models of care that facilitate the discharge of ALC patients to alleviate pressure on emergency services and inpatient care, and enhancing overall healthcare efficiency.
NGH is posting this Call for Innovation to seek out qualified Canadian companies who can meet the following desired outcomes. NGH and CAN Health reserves the right to not move forward with this project at its full discretion and in particular if there are no qualified Canadian companies that can reasonably meet the desired outcomes.
To qualify for a CAN Health project, the company must meet ALL of the following criteria:
- Headquartered in Canada (additional criteria apply for companies not headquartered in Canada)
- Majority ownership of both the company and the solution by Canadians
- Solution at Technology Readiness Level (TRL)>7, indicating actual technology completed and qualified through tests and demonstrations
- All the data and AI models (if applicable) must be hosted in Canada and comply with all the Canadian privacy regulations
- Possess all regulatory approvals required for commercialization, such as Health Canada approval
- Completion of all required clinical validity/unity studies
- No need for policy changes to be widely adopted
- Strong use cases in the Canadian health care system
If the company is not headquartered in Canada or the solution is not majority owned by Canadians, additional criteria apply:
- Independent autonomy over business operations and product development (for subsidiaries, affiliates or distributors)
- High Canadian job creation potential, especially in executive and senior management positions
- Commitment of over 70% of contract value to Canada
During the company selection process, preference is given to companies/solutions fully owned by Canadians, followed by those majority owned by Canadians, and finally international companies with a significant presence and economic impact in Canada.
For more information on the Call for Innovation process and the commercialization projects funded by CAN Health Network, please refer to the FAQ page on the CAN Health Network website: https://canhealthnetwork.ca/faq/
Problem Statement:
Hospitals are facing a growing challenge with Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients who occupy acute care beds despite no longer requiring acute treatment, due to limited community support and home care services. This inefficiency not only contributes to patient care delays but also leads to rising healthcare costs.
Objectives:
The goal of the project is to introduce an innovative home-based care model to enhance healthcare access and support for rural communities, with a focus on safely transitioning ALC patients from hospitals to home. By integrating non-traditional staffing and virtual care options, NGH is seeking a solution that bridges the gap between hospitals and traditional home care providers.
Essential (mandatory) Outcomes:
The expected features and outcomes include:
- Match patients with nearby caregivers who are skilled, culturally aligned, and ideally speak the patient’s language, with particular focus on supporting Indigenous patients and their families.
- Offer flexible, patient-centred care schedules along with on-demand, 24/7 support.
- Introduce easy-to-use, personalized safety devices coupled with 24/7 virtual care access.
- Provide real-time patient status updates to doctors, case managers, and local hospitals to ensure seamless coordination within the patient’s circle of care
Additional Outcomes:
- Achieve a sustainable reduction in Alternate Level of Care (ALC) rates.
- Bridge the gap between patient discharge and the implementation of Ontario Health @ Home services.
- Reduce time to care for complex patients to the same day or next day.
- Achieve high patient and family satisfaction for ALC patients discharged home.
- Decrease readmission rates for ALC patients discharged home.
- Collaborate with other rural hospitals/health systems to collectively advocate for broader home-based care solutions.
Ontario faces considerable challenges with Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients, which significantly affect hospitals across the province. ALC patients, who no longer need acute care but cannot be discharged due to limited community care options, contribute to hospital overcrowding, patient flow disruptions, increased costs, and operational stress. This situation is exacerbated by a shortage of long-term care beds and home care services, limiting available transfer options and prolonging hospital stays for ALC patients. Addressing ALC is a high priority for Ontario Health, as these patients occupy around 14% of acute care hospital days and are steadily increasing. Rural hospitals like NGH particularly feel the strain, as they work to balance the demands of acute care and ALC patient management within limited resources.
