Bill 233 explained in plain English
Improving Access to Health Care Act, 2020
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Improving Access to Health Care Act, 2020, mandates the implementation of a provincial guideline for sickle cell disease, requires racial data collection in healthcare, and amends existing health legislation.
Bill 233, also known as the Improving Access to Health Care Act, 2020, aims to improve healthcare for individuals with sickle cell disease. It mandates the implementation of a provincial guideline for sickle cell disease, requiring the Minister of Health to issue directives and standards to various health bodies. Additionally, it mandates the collection of information about the race of patients within the health sector and requires reviews of healthcare funding for sickle cell disease patients. The Act also repeals a specific subsection of the Anti-Racism Act, 2017.
- Amends the Connecting Care Act, 2019, to require the Minister to issue directives for implementing a provincial guideline on sickle cell disease and to conduct reviews on healthcare funding for sickle cell disease patients.
- Amends the Local Health System Integration Act, 2006, to require the Minister to issue provincial standards for implementing a provincial guideline on sickle cell disease.
- Amends the Public Hospitals Act to require the Minister to issue directives to hospital boards for implementing a provincial guideline on sickle cell disease.
- Amends the Anti-Racism Act, 2017, to mandate the collection of patient race information within the health sector.
- Repeals subsection 6 (7) of the Anti-Racism Act, 2017.
- Establishes the short title of the Act as the Improving Access to Health Care Act, 2020.
- The Minister of Health
- The Ministry of Health
- The Ministry of Long-Term Care
- Ontario Health
- Local health integration networks
- Health service providers
- Boards of hospitals
- Patients with sickle cell disease
- Communities impacted by sickle cell disease
- Patient advocacy groups
- Persons receiving funding from the Government of Ontario to provide health care services
- The Minister of Health is obligated to issue directives and standards to implement the sickle cell disease guideline.
- The Minister of Health is obligated to conduct reviews on healthcare funding for sickle cell disease patients.
- Health sector entities are obligated to take reasonable steps to collect patient race information.
- Patient advocacy groups have the right to be consulted during funding reviews.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The first review of healthcare funding for sickle cell disease patients must be conducted within one year after the Act comes into force.
- Subsequent reviews of healthcare funding must be conducted within five years of the previous review.
- The Act requires reviews to determine if healthcare funding is sufficient for patients with sickle cell disease and affected communities.
- The bill does not specify penalties for non-compliance.
- The bill does not specify the exact nature of the 'reasonable steps' that must be taken to collect patient race information, nor does it define 'communities impacted by the disease'. The content and implementation details of the 'provincial guideline on sickle cell disease' are referenced through external documents ('Clinical Handbook for Sickle Cell Disease Vaso-occlusive Crisis').
- The bill does not outline specific penalties for non-compliance with its provisions.
The Minister of Health is required to issue directives to implement recommendations from the 'Clinical Handbook for Sickle Cell Disease Vaso-occlusive Crisis'. The Minister must also ensure reviews are conducted to assess if healthcare funding is sufficient for sickle cell disease patients and affected communities, with these reviews including consultation with patient advocacy groups. The first review must occur within one year of the Act coming into force, with subsequent reviews every five years.
Source: Section 2
The Minister is required to issue provincial standards to local health integration networks and health service providers to implement recommendations from the 'Clinical Handbook for Sickle Cell Disease Vaso-occlusive Crisis'.
Source: Section 3
The Minister is required to issue operational or policy directives to hospital boards to implement recommendations from the 'Clinical Handbook for Sickle Cell Disease Vaso-occlusive Crisis'.
Source: Section 4
The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Long-Term Care, Ontario Health, and any entities receiving government funding for health services must take reasonable steps to ensure information about the race of patients in Ontario is collected. Data standards will be considered to include necessary personal information for this purpose.
Source: Section 1 (2)
Subsection 6 (7) of the Anti-Racism Act, 2017, is repealed.
Source: Section 1 (1)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced