Derivation and validation of a decision support algorithm for urgent admissions to long-term care homes in Ontario
Equitable access to care is a fundamental principle of Canada’s healthcare system. In Ontario, the absence of a provincial standard to support consistent decision making around urgent admissions to long-term care homes has led to variation in practice across the province. A working group was established in 2014 to develop an evidence-informed decision support tool to promote consistency in care planning regarding urgent admissions to long-term care homes. The resulting CRISIS algorithm demonstrates good prognostic ability, with the proportion of patients urgently admitted to a long-term care home within 90 days ranging from 2.4% in the lowest risk level to 39.9% in the highest risk level. The implementation of the algorithm will improve equity in access to long-term care homes in Ontario.