Health Sciences Centre Continues to Perform Well Among Other Teaching Hospitals in Ontario and Canada

Cost of a hospital stay and Emergency Department wait times for physician initial assessment are two of several indicators in which Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre compares favourably against other teaching hospitals in Ontario and Canada.

That is according to the latest data released from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) made available to the public via Your Health System, a web tool created by CIHI to show how health systems across the country compare with one another. Many of the indicators were recently updated to reflect data for 2014/15.

The data reveals that the Health Sciences Centre compares favourably to other hospitals in several areas, including the cost of a hospital stay. That measurement takes into consideration both costs and length of stay so it is a good overall measure of efficiency and effectiveness. The Health Sciences Centre has improved since 2010-11 and rates better than Canadian teaching hospitals, and both the Ontario and Canadian hospital average.

Similarly, although our administrative expenses are above the Canadian average, they are considerably lower than the Ontario average, and well below the Ontario teaching hospital average.

“As an organization committed to transparency and accountability for the delivery of services to our patients and their families, we welcome the release of this data”, said Jean Bartkowiak, President & CEO of the Health Sciences Centre, and CEO of the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute. “Not only does it show us where we’re improving, but it also identifies where more work is needed in order to better serve our patients and their families.”

In terms of Emergency Wait Time for Physician Initial Assessment, the Health Sciences Centre continues to be a strong performer. The average wait here is 2.2 hours, while the provincial average is 3 hours and the national average is 3.1 hours. “Despite having one of the busiest Emergency Departments in the province, our patients are assessed sooner”, explained Bartkowiak.

Other areas where our results are better than Canadian teaching hospitals, and the Ontario and Canadian hospital average:

In-Hospital Sepsis: Appropriate preventive and therapeutic measures during a hospital stay can reduce the rate of infections and/or progression of infection to sepsis. This indicator looks at the extent to which acute care hospitals are effective in preventing the development of sepsis. The Health Sciences Centre’s success in this area is a demonstration of how the implementation of best practice guidelines leads to better care.

Hospital Deaths (HSMR): This indicator of health care quality measures whether the number of deaths at a hospital is higher or lower than you would expect, based on the average experience of Canadian hospitals.

The Health Sciences Centre ranked number 13 of 25 among teaching hospitals; however the top 5 performing hospitals had just 1-32 patient stays in 2014-15. The number 9 ranked hospital had just 173 patient stays in 2014-15. Of hospitals with more than 10,000 patient stays in 2014-15, the Health Sciences Centre ranks number 4 of 16 remaining hospitals. This makes the Health Sciences Centre a “top quartile” performer for medium-large teaching hospitals.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) collects and analyzes information on health and health care in Canada and makes it publicly available. Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments created CIHI as a not-for-profit, independent organization dedicated to forging a common approach to Canadian health information. CIHI’s goal: to provide timely, accurate, and comparable health information. CIHI’s data and reports inform health policies, support the effective delivery of health services, and raise awareness about the factors that contribute to good health and health care.

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