Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, I am Colonel Jean-Robert Bernier, Deputy Surgeon General of the Canadian Forces. I am accompanied by Colonel Gerry Blais, the director of the Joint Personnel Support Unit and of Casualty Support Management.
I am very happy to be here today and to have the opportunity to talk to you about the Canadian Forces Case Management Program.
The Canadian Forces health services national case management program was implemented as a result of identified gaps in the health care system, especially for transitioning CF members to civilian life. Since its inception, registered nurses have been employed as case managers to help thousands of Canadian Forces members in coordinating the myriad services they need to cope with their physical and mental health challenges.
Although many challenges influenced the program's evolution over the past decade, dedicated nurses continue to deliver professional and high-quality services to Canadian Forces members. The feedback from the case management satisfaction surveys reveals that the program is extremely valuable, both to CF personnel and to their families.
The program currently employs 57 case managers who continue to meet the many challenges arising from the medical complexity of their clients' needs. Although the work environment and the demands are in constant transformation, the program's mandate remains the same: to assist our members either in returning to duty or in making the transition to civilian life.
CF health services nurse case managers lead the coordination of health care and support to serving CF members in partnership with the joint personnel support unit and its integrated personnel support centres, for which Colonel Blais is responsible. As part of the CF health care team, they are responsible for developing an integrated action plan in conjunction with their patients, Canadian Forces members, integrated personnel support centre personnel, partners such as Veterans Affairs case managers, and other outside agencies.
This plan helps CF members recover by ensuring continuity in the monitoring and coordination of in-hospital and home care support. Health services case managers continue to provide support and advice even after Canadian Forces personnel return to duty. If the CF member is leaving the forces, they help with the transition to Veterans Affairs services, if required, and to civilian life. The program is focused on the client and family and applies evidence-based treatments and best practices. Because it's integral to the military health care system, it provides continuity of care and acts as a bridge between health services and other elements of the Canadian Forces and its services.
Constantly striving to improve, the case management program is currently assessing a new work tool, Intermed, which is used to determine the degree of complexity of our clients' transition process. In addition, our case managers are in constant contact with our partners at Veterans Affairs Canada, whether through bilateral groups or on a routine basis in the joint personnel support units, ensuring that we share common work tools and providing for the best possible communications between our organizations.
We have many collaborative initiatives with Veterans Affairs to make transition to civilian life as seamless for CF members as possible. These include referral forms, a trial assessment tool, shared electronic and computerized tools, and a new process for disclosure of health information that will involve electronic tracking and transfer to Veterans Affairs. Following a pilot project currently initiated at bases in Edmonton, Valcartier, and Trenton, this process will eventually be nationally implemented.
Other initiatives will include the sharing of program processes and structure through common staff training, joint workshops, and symposia to enhance partnership, harmonization of program and policies in order to enhance continuity of care throughout the transition, online training for case managers for common subjects, shared working groups and committees, and development of a joint quality management review process to assess the transition process and strengthen continuity of care.
To further improve our case management program, we will seek its accreditation during our next cycle of review by the national health quality assessment authority, Accreditation Canada. We will jointly also pursue opportunities with Veterans Affairs to increase our program leaders' knowledge, increase networking through common service delivery training for program managers, maintain a national-level stakeholder committee, increase outreach activities, and link with other organizations, such as provincial and international case management learning networks and organizations, such as the National Case Management Network, and seek more innovative service delivery models. We will also share our information and training on quality improvement, identify outcome measures, and review our service delivery to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Mental health problems account for a large portion of our case managers' workload and contribute enormously to our case complexity.
However, the mental health team, as an integral part of our health system, has access to the case management program. This allows for rapid access and intervention, ensuring that our members are quickly taken in hand and given access to our full range of services as soon as possible.
As well as assisting CF personnel on a daily basis, the CF health services case management program has long been working collaboratively with the directorate of casualty support management and Veterans Affairs in striving to provide CF members with the best services and benefits to meet their needs.
Our greatest challenge in the transition of CF members to civilian life is in helping them access family physicians and mental health providers within the provincial civilian health systems. Although we continually seek and receive support in this regard from local and regional civilian health authorities, the Canadian Medical Association, the academic deans of university faculties of family medicine, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, and other health authorities, this is an area over which we have little influence in the context of national scarcity and limited access to these health professionals.
In summary, despite increasing demand and the growing complexity of the cases associated with the operational commitments of the Canadian Forces, the introduction of new policies and our new partnerships, Canadian Forces health services managers, through their commitment, are continuing to meet daily challenges, helping to perpetuate the success of the case management program.
Thank you for your attention. I would be pleased to answer your questions.