Information About Ontario Community Health Profiles Partnership
Geographies Definitions, Notes and Historical Context
Last Updated: May 25, 2020

Neighbourhoods
Neighbourhoods are the most common and smallest geographic level used on ourOntario Community Health Profiles Partnership (OCHPP) website.
City of Toronto Neighbourhoods
The City of Toronto 158 neighbourhoods were created by the Social Policy Analysis andResearch unit in the City's Social Development & Administration Division. They areaggregates of Statistics Canada census tracts (CTs) into meaningful geographic unitsfor planning and service delivery with an average population of 7,000-10,000 people.
Neighbourhoods within the Central Local Health Integration Network (LHIN)
For the Central Local Health Integration Network, we created 108 neighbourhoods
based on similar areas in York Region that were used by the region to analyze theresults from the Early Development Instrument (EDI). Central LHIN neighbourhoods
range between 2,700 and 58,500 in population size. For more information about the EDI
please visit: http://goo.gl/UvrUow
Neighbouhoods in Southwest Ontario
In 2018-19 Health Commons Solutions Lab together with OCHPP and a range of localstakeholders took on a task of creating small regional area units smaller in size thansub-regions and LHINs and larger than census dissemination areas. This intermediatearea size was thought of to be particularly useful for analyzing and reporting a wide
range of health and socioeconomic indicators.
Here are the criteria used in the process:- Neighbourhoods will be meaningful to local community stakeholders.
- Leverage existing work and local expertise when creating neighbourhoods.
- Use Census geographies as the building blocks for neighbourhoods.
- Ideally, neighbourhoods will have a population size of no less than 7,000 and nomore than 50,000.
- The final number of neighbourhoods will be manageable from an overall LHIN
perspective for the purposes of reporting.
169 neighbourhoods were created in the following Southwest Ontario areas:- Erie St. Clair (n=38)- South West (London area) (n=37)- Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant (n=94)
For more information please visit:https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a0d40298dd041f9a60bb3a7/t/5ebea06e775957
3d51e20255/1589551216891/HCSLMapping%2BNeighbourhoods%2BField%2BGuide-2019.pdf
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Multispecialty physician networks (PhysNets)
Why PhysNets were created?
To improve efficiency (higher quality & lower costs) for chronic disease
To improve coordinated and integrated care
To strengthen primary care (PC) systems
To improve chronic disease management/prevention programs
To support engagement of multiple health professionals (interdisciplinary teams)
To improve information systems
To focus on longitudinal efficiency
How PhysNets were created?
PhysNets were created by linking each Ontario resident to his or her usual provider ofprimary care. Specialists were also linked to the hospital where they performed themost inpatient services. Each primary care physician was linked to the hospital wheremost of his or her ambulatory patients were admitted for non-maternal medical care.
Lastly, each resident was then linked to the same hospital as his or her usual providerof primary care.
For more info please visit: https://www.ices.on.ca/Publications/JournalArticles/2013/January/Multispecialty-physician-networks-in-Ontario

Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs)
14 Ontario Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) are the health authorities
responsible for regional administration of public healthcare services in the province ofOntario, Canada.
For more information on Ontario LHINs please visit: http://www.lhins.on.ca

Ontario Health Teams (OHTs)“Ontario Health Teams are being introduced to provide a new way of organizing anddelivering care that is more connected to patients in their local communities. Under
Ontario Health Teams, health care providers (including hospitals, doctors and home andcommunity care providers) work as one coordinated team - no matter where theyprovide care.”See references: http://health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/connectedcare/oht/
For more information on the methodology, see this blog:
https://www.healthcommons.ca/blog/understanding-using-physician-networks-for-oht

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Ontario Health Interim and Transitional Regions
Ontario Health Interim and Transitional Regions are administrative regions establishedby the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to manage the transition toOntario Health Teams. The process of restructuring and integrating the Ontario healthcare system included the clustering of the 14 LHINs into five interim geographic regions:
West, Central, Toronto Central, East, North.
For more information please refer to: https://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2019/11/ontariotaking-next-steps-to-integrate-health-care-system.html

Sub-Regions
76 Ontario Sub-Regions divide the LHINs into smaller areas that serve as the focal
point for improved health system planning, performance improvement and service
integration. For more information please visit:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/news/bulletin/2017/hb_20170127_2.aspx

Sub-LHINs - Archived
The new Sub-LHIN areas are being developed by each LHIN to meet the needs ofgeographic restructuring brought in by the Ministry of Health and Long-term Careinitiative “Patients First: Action Plan for Health Care.”
These units are used to plan and evaluate heath care system’s regional characteristics
within LHINs such as accessibility to health care services, level of connectivity between
service providers and patients, and information about the health care system amongpatients.

Health Links - Archived
There are currently 82 approved Health Links across 14 Local Health Integration
Networks. Their purpose is to “provide coordinated, efficient and effective care topatients with complex needs.”Principles for Health Links creation process:• Align with LHIN boundaries• Provide primary care leadership within LHINs• Reflect population characteristics• Oversee existing infrastructure (e.g. CSS, CMHA, CHC organizations, Primary
Care Providers)• Other factors (e.g. physician models, disease prevalence rates, non-healthinfrastructure)
For more information on Health Links please visit:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/transformation/community.aspx
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