TORONTO — The government has announced $2.4 million in funding to support an additional 13 Ontario Health Teams across the province.
One of the new teams is approved for the Rainy River district.
It is the second one in Northwestern Ontario, the other being the previously-approved All Nations Health Partners Ontario Health Team that includes providers in Kenora and Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls.
In December, 2019, the ministry of health said the proposed Northwestern Ontario Health Team, whose catchment area includes Thunder Bay, was still in the development stage, and was scheduled to submit a progress report in January 2020.
A ministry spokesperson was not immediately available Wednesday to provide an update on its status.
There are now 42 teams which will cover 86 per cent of the population when they are fully operational.
Ontario Health Teams bring health care providers together with health care organizations to work as a coordinated group.
The government has said the new collaborative model is aimed at improving efficiency and ending hallway medicine.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a statement Wednesday that the program is still in its early stages, but the health teams "are already breaking down long-standing barriers to better connect care for both patients and our frontline heroes" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
