content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message ontario hospital association type non profit organization industry health care founded toronto canada 1924 1924 headquarters toronto canada key people anthony dale president and ceo marcia visser oha board chair 2012 2013 website http www.oha.com according to the ontario hospital association oha website the oha is a member association that represents approximately 154 public hospitals in ontario . the association regards itself as the voice of ontario s public hospitals . contents 1 history 2 historical context 3 executives 4 additional resources 5 references 6 external links history edit on december 13 1923 at the request of dr. fred w. routley the ontario director of the canadian red cross at the time a group of hospital workers met at the toronto academy of medicine to lay the foundation for the establishment of the oha . the 58 attendees consisted of hospital physicians nurses superintendents business managers trustees and association executives . it was at this meeting that the oha as it is known today was launched . the attendees also agreed that the first oha convention would be held the following fall . october 2 and 3 1924 marked the oha s first convention and annual general meeting attended by 106 registered participants . at this event there was a lot of discussion on a range of topics from the high costs of hospitalization to financial problems and a new blood transfusion method . source 80 years of progress the ontario hospital association historical context edit canadian historian david gagan in a section of the book health and canadian society sociological perspectives discusses the rise of the modern hospital in ontario from 1880 to 1950 from which the following information is derived . 2 until the end of the 19th century canadian hospitals mainly cared for the indigent with middle class patients favouring medical care at home to care in the hospital . new technology laboratories x ray machines hospital child birth and antiseptic surgery radically transformed hospitals in a short period of time up to the end of the first world war in 1918 and made them more acceptable to middle class patients . however these technologies were expensive and the allowance paid to hospitals by government to cover the costs of caring for indigent patients did not meet the actual costs . since hospitals were still mandated to care for indigents middle class patients were charged more and more to subsidize care for the poor . this eventually strained patients capacity to pay . at that time hospitals total income from all sources of revenue including paying patients municipal and government subsidization donor contributions were only enough to maintain a static system not an enterprise that was now improving during a time of medical progress . in 1927 these emerging challenges led the president of the oha to note that it was neither useful nor realistic to continue in this manner and the idea of the hospital as a purely charitable endeavor was rendered obsolete . he proposed instead that the goal of the modern hospital was to provide the best diagnostic and therapeutic facilities available for a fee to patients who paid the full cost of their care . the government s insufficient subsidy for indigent patients transferred the fiscal burden to paying patients people of moderate means and diverted any additional hospital income to cover the costs of non paying patients . this was seen as a barrier to medical progress . according to gagan the objective was not to deny indigent patients access to hospital care but to appeal to middle class self interest in order to spur statutory changes in government social policy that would explicitly recognize that hospitals were no longer charitable enterprises . rather hospitals had become centres for the scientific treatment of diseases among all classes for a fair price in relation to the value of the product and the ability of the consumer to pay for non profit treatment . the oha and hospitals wanted a shift from the traditional charitable role of hospitals to one that was committed to scientific professionalism and recognized the realities of hospital economics . in a 1936 study ontario survey of general hospitals 1940 undertaken by the ontario department of health during the depression it was noted that lengths of stay los for the poor and indigent patients increased while los decreased for paying patients . the report which was finalized in 1940 concluded that the trend of hospitals returning to their former role as custodial care facilities and municipalities mounting expenditures on medical care was a temporary condition . among the recommendations was to police the hospitals to eliminate waste inefficiency and long stay indigent patients . this government rationale was among the factors that drew interest among federal and provincial constituencies which included the oha to support the idea of health insurance . in 1943 prime minister wlm king created an advisory committee on health insurance to consult broadly on the issue which consequently produced the heagarty committee report . in the meantime private carriers and not for profit organizations such as blue cross which was organized by the canadian hospital association had begun to provide voluntary group hospitalization insurance coverage through employers . the hard times of the 1930s created the momentum behind the establishment of blue cross in ontario . 3 by 1956 50 % of canadians were covered by voluntary private or nonprofit prepayment plans but public pressure for a nationwide program to protect people from catastrophic health care costs was growing . 4 on a provincial level as early as the 1940s the oha began to step up its lobbying efforts to government on behalf of ontario hospitals primarily for funds which was a prime function of the oha since its inception because of new challenges such as the spiraling costs of health care which did not match government funding . one of the proposed solutions at the time was universal hospital insurance which the oha generally supported . years later in 1957 ontario premier leslie m. frost tabled the ontario memorandum and proposal on hospital care insurance before the ontario legislature . during his speech he publicly acknowledged a body of experts who helped conduct studies related to this proposal which included the executive of the ontario hospital association and the blue cross . 5 he added that as part of the conditions of implementation the plan was to be administered by the ontario hospital service commission either through the agency of the blue cross or by a crown corporation similar to the blue cross and by personnel drawn from the ontario hospital association . in 1959 the government of ontario launched the ontario hospital insurance plan . 600 blue cross employees as well as most of its top management team moved over to help guide in the plan s development . 6 on a national level medicare developed in two stages . the first was the hospital insurance and diagnostic act of 1957 which gave the canadian government authority to enter into an agreement with the provinces to establish a comprehensive universal plan covering acute hospital care and laboratory and radiology diagnostic services . nine years later the medical care act of 1966 extended health insurance to cover doctors services . this led to a federal government offer to share on a grant in aid basis the costs of a canada wide plan on condition that the majority of provinces take part and a majority of the population be covered . by mid 1957 eight provinces indicated that they would join in such a proposal . by 1961 all provinces had hospital plans in operation and 99 % of the population was covered . this included coverage for all standard ward hospital care . 7 executives edit anthony dale is the current president and chief executive officer appointed to the position in december 2013 . marcia visser is the 2012 2013 chair of the board . additional resources edit the hospitals of ontario a short history by the hospitals division of the department of health 1934 canadian healthcare and the state a century of evolution by david naylor 1992 health and canadian society sociological perspectives third edition by d. coburn c. d arcy and g. m. torrance 1998 private practice . public payment canadian medicine and the politics of health insurance 1911 1966 by david naylor 1986 references edit 80 years of progress . toronto the ontario hospital association . p. 1.11 . gagan david 1998 . for patients of moderate means the transformation of ontario s public general hospitals 1880 1950 . health and canadian society sociological perspectives third edition university of toronto press . pp. 420 437 . ontario blue cross history . retrieved 24 february 2011 . the canadian encyclopedia health policy . retrieved 24 february 2011 . ontario urges ottawa reconsider hospital offer . the windsor daily star . january 29 1957 . retrieved 24 february 2011 . ontario blue cross history . retrieved 24 february 2011 . the canadian encyclopedia health policy . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ontario hospital association & oldid 740486634 categories medical and health organizations based in canadahidden categories articles with a promotional tone from august 2010all articles with a promotional tone navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity 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