Nathan Peschke SCO 6096 Case 2 – Organizational Transformation and the Center for Addiction and Mental Health In 1997, the Ontario Health Services Restructuring Committee mandated merging four prominent mental health and addiction institutions, Queen Street, The Clarke, ARF, and Donwood, into a larger amalgamation called the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Intended to improve care options and accessibility, CAMH has the potential to be a leader in mental health care and perceptions, although it faces a variety of challenges before it can make any substantial impact and must navigate a unique collection of stakeholders. Now, CAMH asks itself how to restructure its supply chain of care to maintain current patients, improve patient-centric…show more content… Despite being recognized by the World Health Organization as an organization of excellence, stakeholders surrounding the facility present heavy concerns. Care is split between inpatient and outpatient care, with far more patients making extended stays than other forms of care. Current patients and their families face a mountain of uncertainty about what the merger could mean for them. Potential patients severely under-seek care as only two-thirds of those facing mental health and addiction issues seek care, even if they know they can access it. Community members are also hesitant to support the growth of a major mental health center in their neighborhood. Funding is difficult to secure given the limited scope of advocacy groups and the hesitancy to publicly donate to mental health institutions. At the same time, hundreds of employees are uncertain about CAMH leadership and their job stability, especially because of the redundancy of many…show more content… CAMH must make its best practice choices around a strict patient-centric guideline. One study found that effective patient-centric care comes at the intersection of interpersonal, clinical, and structural dimensions of health care (Greene et al.). In upholding interpersonal care, staff and leadership cannot lose bandwidth or become distracted at any point during the merger. A McKinsey study observed this perfectly, prescribing that “hospital mergers fail because leadership attention flags, resources are reallocated too quickly, and the initial momentum dissipates” (Dash et al.). When maintaining clinical care, CAMH must maintain all existing practices until the merger, and facilities cannot be closed until a new site is fully operational. To establish a patient-centric structure, community stakeholders must be regularly informed throughout the merger and campus growth, and localized efforts to educate community members on mental health can get ahead of any feared stigma. Overall, CAMH will be considered a success based on the quality and depth of care it gives patients, more than other performance metrics. Core effective care will guide the project and define CAMH as a flagship mental health and addiction services
