The Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS) has announced major changes to the medical review process for people receiving Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) benefits. These changes come after input from concerned clients, advocates, and stakeholder partners, including CMHA Ontario.
The ministry is simplifying the medical review process by introducing a new, shorter form that asks whether a recipient’s medical condition has improved.
Most notably, the ministry is simplifying the medical review process by introducing a new, shorter form that asks whether a recipient’s medical condition has improved. Additional medical information will be required only if it has.
The ministry has also put processes in place to verify the need for a review in each case, ensure the most vulnerable recipients do not lose benefits if they do not respond to a review notice, and improve training for those who adjudicate ODSP applications. This new approach will help eliminate unnecessary medical reviews and better ensure that ODSP will be available for all those who are eligible.
CMHA Ontario collaborated with the Income Security Advocacy Centre, ODSP Action Coalition, and Association of Ontario Health Centres among many other stakeholder groups, to raise this issue with MCSS because nearly half of all ODSP recipients have a mental health issue.
“We couldn’t be more happy about the outcome,” CMHA Ontario CEO Camille Quenneville said to the Toronto Star. “When you consider that 46 per cent of people on ODSP struggle with mental illness, this will have a very important impact on those we represent.”
Together with these stakeholders, CMHA Ontario recommended measures that reduce the cumbersome burden on service providers and people with lived experience in navigating the medical review process.
More information about the changes to medical reviews are available on the Ministry of Community and Social Services website in English and in French.
CMHA Ontario welcomes the ministry’s announcement and looks forward to continued collaboration with other stakeholders in the coming months.