The 42 Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) in Ontario conduct client assessments, which are used as the mechanism to determine :

• Client's care needs
• Client's eligibility for services
• Service requirements for in-home services and/or to facilitate access to long-term care facilities

In the late 1990s, CCACs and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) sought to standardize, streamline and automate client assessments in order to improve accountability, provide consistent service for clients and to measure and improve quality. This need was further supported by the opening of many new long-term care beds as a result of the 20,000 long-term care bed expansion.

After an extensive and thorough analysis, a joint governing body of CCAC and ministry representatives, Community Care Connects (C3) recommended the Resident Assessment Instrument – Home Care (RAI-HC) as the common assessment instrument. The RAI-HC would be used by all CCACs for any adult requiring a comprehensive assessment for longer term home care services or access to a long-term care facility. The initiative is one of the largest in scope of any implementation of the RAI-HC in North America, involving 42 CCACs, and impacting hundreds of community hospitals and long-term care facilities.

In December 2001, the ministry established a project team, the CCAC-LTC Priority Project to support CCACs to implement a common assessment instrument. The Priority Project is a partnership between CCACs and the MOHLTC.

• Educate CCAC case managers to use the RAI-HC on a day-to-day basis
• Streamline CCAC business processes for adult long-stay clients
• Implement automated RAI-HC for adult long-stay clients located in the community or in hospitals

The Priority Project provided CCACs with educational materials, implementation guides, and other supports to help CCACs implement changes that would be required as a result of the implementation of the RAI-HC.

The RAI-HC :

• Is a standardized, multi-dimensional assessment instrument intended for adults requiring comprehensive assessment;
• Is designed to predict a client's ability to live independently in the community with support;
• Is a valid and reliable assessment instrument developed by interRAI, an international consortium of researchers from 20 countries; and
• Will enable CCACs and the ministry to improve planning, outcomes measurement and accountability within community and long-term care.

For more information about the RAI-HC, visit the interRAI website.

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