Since 2012, KPMG has generously supported the development of HRI’s flagship model for monitoring progress and outcomes in mental health and addiction treatment. We are pleased to announce new funding from KPMG that will enable the expansion of HRI’s system for broader use in Ontario and beyond.
Progress and outcome monitoring is standard practice in many health care sectors. Long-term data are routinely collected from patients receiving cancer treatment to measure how well treatment works and to inform better care. It comes as a surprise to many that Canada’s mental health system does not routinely apply the same methods of standardized measurement. In short, we don’t know how well mental health and addiction services are performing.
In 2015, HRI launched a system that could help meet Canada’s need for treatment monitoring. The Recovery Journey System is a progress and outcome monitoring (POM) system that collects data from individuals who have received inpatient treatment to understand their health outcomes and quality of life after treatment. The data can be used to assess how well treatment is working and guide improvements to care.
Initial funding from KPMG Waterloo and the KPMG Foundation catalyzed the development of the Recovery Journey System, built in partnership with HRI’s founding funder, Homewood Health. Since that time, the System has been tested for wider use at Homewood Health in programs focused on trauma, anxiety and depression.
In 2019, HRI convened provincial leaders to co-create a vision for advancing POM systems in Ontario and beyond. With further national collaboration, we published a 2021 report exploring existing POM systems for addiction treatment across the country. The report offers findings to inform a standardized approach, including best and promising practices and implications for a province-wide system.
We are pleased to share that KPMG Waterloo and the KPMG Foundation have generously donated $250,000 over three years to support the scale-up HRI’s Recovery Journey System in a three-stage process:
- Adapting the System to address the needs of additional treatment sites that vary in geography, clientele and organizational characteristics.
- Implementing the System to integrate with existing structures and processes at each site.
- Evaluating the System and scale-up process to inform next steps.
Program sites that are engaged with HRI to carry out this work include:
- Concurrent Disorders Unit, The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre
- Womankind Addiction Service, Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
- Addiction Medicine Program, Homewood Health Centre (Guelph)
- St. Leonard’s Community Services (Brantford)
- Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre (Ottawa)
- Wayside House of Hamilton
The process of engaging new sites was supported by a generous $35,000 sponsorship from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), along with the contribution of a part-time CCSA Senior Knowledge Broker to facilitate consultation, process-building and data analysis with new partner sites.
Ongoing evaluation activities will help to identify critical issues, success factors, barriers and solutions. The result will be a roadmap to guide sustainable, scalable POM system infrastructure across Canada.
This work is led by Dr. Jean Costello, Director of Evaluation, and Dr. Brian Rush, Collaborating Scientist at HRI.
We are grateful to both KPMG and CCSA for their support of HRI’s POM system to help fill a critical gap in Canadian health care.