A Quantitative Evaluation of An Integrated Care Approach to Address Capacity Issues at a Community Hospital in Ontario Canada

Hospitals face significant challenges during winter due to the high volume of patients with illnesses such as influenza and COVID-19, a phenomenon known as the "Winter Surge." Hospital Nice Fund (HNF) is a collaboration between a hospital and several community and homecare agencies in East Toronto. The program aims to facilitate early patient discharge by providing additional support at home or in the community. Specifically, HNF expedites discharge for clinically cleared patients facing social challenges that delay discharge. The idea was not only to free up beds for new patients but also to ensure that discharged patients are properly cared for in the community. This created a unique opportunity for our research team to investigate the impact of HNF: Did HNF patients come back to the hospital? Specifically, did HNF patients visit the emergency department within 7 and 30 days after discharge, or were they hospitalized within this time frame? We compared HNF patients with similar patients who were not enrolled in the HNF program during the study period (December 1, 2018, to April 30, 2022). Our preliminary results show that HNF patients had a higher chance of being hospitalized or visiting the emergency department within 7 and 30 days after discharge. Our findings indicate that additional support in the community or at home might be needed to provide adequate care and ensure patients stay in the community.