Earlier this year, the SSC made up to $5 million available on a one-time basis (i.e. not on-going) to support specialist initiatives and projects. The SSC sought proposals from specialists and specialist sections detailing how each would use this funding to improve specialist services. A two-staged process was established to assess the proposals based on criteria created by the SSC.
The SSC received 166 proposals worth $50 million in the Stage 1 process, from which approximately 60 proposals were invited to submit more detailed information in Stage 2. The scope of proposals ranged considerably but can be categorized as follows: equipment, IT/EMR, allied health providers, new clinics/service delivery, and physician specific projects.
After reviewing the Stage 2 proposals against the criteria, the SSC provided preliminary approval to 13 projects for one-time funding worth approximately $5 million in total. Please stay tuned for more information and updates on these projects. The SSC would like to thank all applicants for the time and effort put into all the proposals submitted.