Connecting People to Home and Community Care Act, 2020

The Connecting People to Home and Community Care Act, 2020 (Bill 175) will be proclaimed on May 1, 2022. Legislative amendments to the Connecting Care Act, 2019 relating to home and community care will be proclaimed into force.

The Home Care and Community Services Act,1994 and its regulations will be repealed and no longer in force. 

What this means for Occupational Therapists:

• Current home and community care services, including occupational therapy, will be carried forward. New services will be added including: behavioural supports, bereavement services, education, prevention and awareness services, psychology services for persons with a long-term mental health impairment or responsive behaviours, traditional healing, and Indigenous cultural support services. This provides an opportunity for OTs to expand our roles within home and community care to fill these new services.
• All current home and community care programs (e.g. ABI, assisted living, etc.) and school health services will continue.
• Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) and health service providers have new flexibility to deliver services through a variety of new models with other providers.
• OHTs and health service providers can empower front-line providers to make timely care coordination decisions under certain circumstances (effective September 1, 2022). Additional information will be provided on this implementation.
• Service maximums are removed, care planning requirements are enhanced (e.g. care planning must consider clinical best practices, cost/benefits of virtual and/or group delivery, etc.). We do not yet know how this will be implemented nor what impact this will have for service delivery.