Designing Community Surgical and Diagnostic centres (iCHSCs)
IHP and ICHSC Facilities Frameworks
The Integrated Community Health Services Centres (ICHSC) Act regulates the integration of Independent Health Facilities (IHFs) into the public care model, offering OHIP coverage and ensuring quality of care, while simultaneously working to reduce system wait times. While IHFs have long been a part of Ontario’s publicly funded healthcare system, the act expanded the ICHSC framework to include the Out of Hospital Premises (OHP) system.
The OHP system specifically regulates the performance of select surgical and diagnostic services to ensure they are held to the same standard as those performed in hospital settings. Under this framework, doctors still retain the option to offer services privately through OHPs under the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), maintaining flexibility in care delivery.
The expansion of these services offer opportunities to IHPs to provide new services in an out of hospital setting. However, it also demands that IHPs wishing to fulfil these services must adapt the design of their healthcare settings to ensure they align with the standard of care. Our team has successfully partnered with doctors, clinics, and healthcare professionals to navigate the evolving regulatory landscape, ensuring facilities align with federal and provincial guidelines, including but not limited to the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) guidelines as mandated by the CSPO, the ICHSC Act, as well as both provincial and local building codes. At the same time, we ensure these settings are designed for efficiency, care, and patient safety.
Experience in Designing OHP and ICHSC Facilities
Clearpoint Surgical is one of Canada’s leading surgical centres, privately licensed to provide surgical services to individuals covered by OHIP, WSIB, and disability insurers. As such, their practice falls under the ICHSC framework for both the delivery of services and the design of their facility to achieve compliance to the same standard of healthcare provision as publicly operated facilities.
In 2021, C& Partners was engaged to design the Clearpoint Health Network Surgical Centre, located in Etobicoke. As a part of the design process, the practical needs and movements of end users including staff and patients in the space were analysed to develop distinct zones with logical and efficient connectivity. This analysis was key in informing design decisions that balanced compliance with the ICHSC framework’s standard of care and response to the specific needs of a private healthcare facility to maintain flexibility.
To learn more about this project, click here.
Other ICHSC Projects Include: