The Ontario legislature has passed the Excellent Care for All Act, 2010. Upon royal assent, the act will help make health care providers and executives more accountable for improving patient care. The legislation will require all health care organizations, starting with hospitals, to:
- Develop quality improvement plans annually, and make them public
- Create quality committees to report to each board on quality-related issues, including the annual quality improvement plan
- Link executive compensation to quality-plan performance improvements
- Implement patient and employee satisfaction surveys and a process to address patient complaints
This new legislation also will expand the mandate of the Ontario Health Quality Council to recommend evidence-based guidelines that health care providers should adopt. For more information, seewww.health.gov.on.ca.