The Provider Decision Group (PDG) has officially been launched as part of the Clinical & Systems Transformation (CST) project. The PDG is a decision-making body that gives leadership and direction for provider content within the CST project and related projects.

The group will be made up of a team of providers, as well as CST project leaders and advisors. A ‘provider’ is any healthcare professional who can write an order, including physicians, midwives, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and dentists.

Starting with their first meeting on Oct. 6, the PDG will consider topics and make decisions that affect provider standards and practices. These decisions will be important to the enhancement and sustainment of high quality care.

“This group is very important to the success of the CST project because it will involve physicians and clinical staff on a broader and deeper level,” says Dr. Bruce Long, Chair of the PDG and CST Chief Medical Information Officer for VCH and PHC. “As an emergency physician, I know how essential this is.”

Together with the other decision groups (clinical, data and technical), the PDG will be pivotal in driving the alignment of clinical standards across all clinical and technological streams within the CST project, ensuring that evidence-based practices are front and centre, and the principles of safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity and patient-centered care are upheld.

Recruitment is still underway to ensure broad representation from across the three Health Organizations. Members are being selected based on their leadership positions within the Health Organizations or because they expressed interest in this opportunity via a survey sent out in summer 2014. Membership is approved by the project’s Executive Steering Committee. The list of members will be published on the CSTProject.ca website once it is finalized.

Group members will liaise and communicate with medical staff in the three Health Organizations and other governing provider groups and maintain a close working relationship with the Clinical Decision Group. The group will also serve as a point of escalation for matters that cannot be resolved by the design teams.

The group will meet every two weeks, or as required, for the duration of the project.

“Thank you to everyone who has expressed interest in this opportunity and to those who will be contributing their time and expertise to the PDG. Your involvement will help influence provider standards and practices for generations to come,” says Dr. Long.

Background information

• CST is a joint initiative of VCH, PHSA and PHC, and one of the largest and most complex healthcare projects in Canada. It spans across several areas of the continuum of care including: acute care inpatient and outpatient units, ambulatory care and residential care. As well as creating consistent, leading practices, and a shared clinical information system, CST will deliver HIMSS Level 5 functionality.

• Clinical design teams, made up of hundreds of highly-skilled, multi-disciplinary professionals from across the three Health Organizations and Team IBM, started work on April 7, 2014. These teams are tasked with designing our future workflows, based on leading practices. In doing so, they are defining the requirements for our new clinical information system.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Bruce Long, CST Chief Medical Information Officer, VCH/PHC
Bruce.Long@vch.ca

Alternatively, email us at info@CSTproject.ca