Description and Observations of the Transition from LHINs to Ontario Health Agency

Abstract

Until recently (and is still a work in progress as reforms are implemented), the Ontario health care system’s main coordinator group was the 14 regional Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs). However in 2019, the newly elected provincial government choose to abolish LHINs in favor of a single agency called Ontario Health. As stated by the provincial government, the main reasons put forward were achieving financial efficiencies, avoiding duplicative structures and eliminating organisational silos: “To achieve true integrated and coordinated care, Ontario is proposing to streamline the important work of these health agencies so it can be performed more effectively and collaboratively, provide more value for tax dollars and enable people to work together instead of in silos” (Ministry of Health, 2019b, p.1). The purpose of this research note is to provide an overview of the new Ontario Health agency and to discuss some observations resulting from this transition. This note is part of a sequence of three research notes. The first note (#PARG 2020-06RN) provides a typology and list of the organisations within Ontario’s health care system. The note represents the system as it has existed before implementation of 2019 reforms. This second note (#PARG 2020-07RN) provides an overview of the transition to a single Ontario Health agency. The third note (#PARG 2020-08RN) examines the organisational transition to Ontario Health Teams.