Community of Practice Conditions of Participation
Statement of Collaboration
I. PURPOSE
ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy is a Ministry of Health (MOH) funded project focused on supporting community specialists and primary care providers to build capacity in the treatment and management of epilepsy care through videoconferencing sessions. The purpose of this STATEMENT of COLLABORATION is to continue to develop and foster ongoing collaboration between ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy and each Spoke Participant. This collaboration is defined below.
Definitions
Hub: A ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy team.
Spoke: Community specialists and primary care providers who participate in ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy.
Deidentification: As defined by the Information and Privacy Commisionner of Ontario (2016), “De-identification” is the general term for the process of removing personal information from a record or data set. De-identification protects the privacy of individuals because once deidentified, a data set is considered to no longer contain personal information. If a data set does not contain personal information, its use or disclosure cannot violate the privacy of individuals. Accordingly, the privacy protection provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) would not apply to de-identified information. It is important to note that de-identification does not reduce the risk of re-identification of a data set to zero. Rather, the process produces data sets for which the risk of re-identification is very small.
II. COMMITMENT TO COLLABORATION – THE HUB
In the spirit of collaboration ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy (The Hub) is committed to working with community partners (The Spokes). The Hub offers to do the following:
- Discuss de-identified cases presented by Spokes and provide timely, verbal and written suggestions for care.
- Offer didactic presentations via videoconference on a wide range of paediatric issues that are relevant to health care providers from a wide range of disciplines.
- Provide CPD credit(s) at no cost from the College of Family Physicians of Canada and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (Section 1) for participating in the Sessions and completing post Session evaluations, surveys and other evaluation activities.
- Provide appropriate IT user support to facilitate connectivity and participation at the Hospital for Sick Children.
III. COMMITMENT TO COLLABORATION – THE SPOKE
In the spirit of collaboration, you will be consenting to fully participating in the ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy. In order to be designated as an active participant, you agree to:
- Attending sessions. Please see the “Participation Notice” below for further information.
- Providing comments and asking questions (we encourage participation by multi-level teams when possible).
- Presenting anonymized case presentations.
- Providing clinical updates and de-identified outcome data on patients presented.
- Completing periodic surveys and other evaluation tools to help us improve our educational initatives to healthcare providers.
IV. PATIENT RELATIONSHIP DISCLAIMER
Please note that ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy case presentations do not create or otherwise establish a provider-patient/client relationship between any Hub Clinician and any patient whose case is being presented in an ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy session (the “Session”). The Spoke understands that recommendations from Sessions do not in any way replace the diligence and professional expertise to be exercised by the Spoke sites with respect to their patients and any clinical advice given thereto.
V. DE-IDENTIFIED INFORMATION NOTICE AND CONFIDENTIALITY
Please note that no patient identifiers are to be used within any ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy session, document, and communication correspondence. Unique ECHO IDs will be assigned for each case presented at ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy, and at no time shall any identifiable personal information or personal health information of patients be included in the documents or correspondence between the Hub and the Spoke or as part of the Sessions. If, for whatever reason, personal information or personal health information of a patient is inadvertently disclosed in a Session, the disclosing Spoke clinician shall be responsible for ensuring that the privacy breach is addressed in accordance with the internal privacy policies and procedures of that Spoke.
The Hub and Spokes understand and agree that any information (including, without limitation, case presentation forms and any other relevant documentation or information) received as part of the Sessions shall be kept confidential and only used in connection in the context of the ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy collaboration and for the purposes described in this statement of collaboration. In addition, it is understood that program login creditatials shallnot be shared with any other person or used other than in connection with a ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy Session.
VI. PARTICIPATION NOTICE
The expectation is that Spoke participants attend all sessions in a given ECHO cycle. Individuals who attend at least 75% of sessions within a given ECHO cycle will receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the cycle, indicating their active participation in the program. In the instance of an in-person ECHO Education Event, all will be invited but we reserve the right to only subsidize the travel and accommodation expenses for those who attend at least three (3) sessions.
We understand that you may have important commitments, busy clinical days, and emergencies. Please inform the ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy staff as soon as possible if you are unable to make it for a Session, or a series of Sessions. If your attendance record has 3 consecutive absences without notice, you may be contacted by ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy to understand how we can best support your ongoing attendance.
It is expected that participants will encourage a safe and respectful learning environment.
VII. DATA USE AND STORAGE NOTICE
The Spoke understands that the following data will be collected for reporting purposes:
- In order to meet our MOH funding deliverables, ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy collects participant data for quarterly and annual reports that are submitted directly to the MOH. Any public dissemination outside of the MOH is anonymized. If ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy shares any documents for use outside of MOH reporting, participant name will be removed but the name of the organization will be included. Those working independently will be identified as “Solo Practitioner”. Any quotes that may be shared outside of MOH reporting will be identified as “[Profession], [ECHO Name]”. Data used for this purpose will be stored on the Hospital for Sick Children’s servers, in Canada.
- In order to support quality improvement and quality assurance, the ECHO Ontario Superhub (a partnership between University Health Network and Centre for Mental Health and Addiction) collects participation data for each ECHO program in Ontario, including ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy. This data allows ECHO Ontario to measure, analyze, and report on the model’s reach within Ontario. Your data will be used in reports for quality improvement and quality assurance purposes. If shared for use outside of Superhub reporting, participant name will be removed but the name of the organization will be included. Data used for this purpose will be stored on the University Health Network’s (UHN) and Centre for Mental Health and Addiction’s (CAMH) servers, in Canada.
- In order to support the growth of the ECHO model, the Project ECHO Institute at the University of New Mexico, USA collects attendance for each ECHO program globally, includingECHO Ontario: Epilepsy. This data allows the Project ECHO Institute to measure, analyze, and report on the reach and impact of the program internationally. Your participation data, including name, organization name, organization address and ECHO session attendance, will be shared. Aggregated data (at a program level) will be used in reports, for quality assurance/improvement activities, and for decision-making related to new initiatives. Data used for this purpose will be stored on the University of New Mexico (UNM) servers, in New Mexico, United States.
If you would like to opt-out of this, please contact a member of our team.
VIII. ZOOM
ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy uses Zoom video conferencing technology. It is the participants responsibility to keep Zoom up to date. The latest version can be found at: https://zoom.us/
VIII. RECORDING, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND GUESTS
The Spoke understands that the Sessions may be recorded by the Hub for educational and/or evaluation purposes and agrees to ensure that all discussions regarding any cases and individuals are carried out in a manner that ensures anonymity and protection of privacy for the subjects of such discussions. For greater clarity, in the event that any personal information or personal health information is inadvertently disclosed as part of a Session, such information will be edited out of any recording. In addition, the Spoke understands that it shall not be permitted to record any Sessions. If you would like any further information about the research/evaluation endeavors currently taking place, please contact a member of our team at epilepsy@echoontario.ca.
The Spoke understands that from time to time the Sessions may be photographed, and such photos may be used by ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy internally, or may be shared externally on websites or with media outlets for the purposes of describing or otherwise promoting or profiling the work of ECHO Ontario: Epilepsy. Individuals in group photographs will be blurred, unless a separate photo release waiver is completed/written consent is attained.