On May 9, 2020, we released a consolidated dataset of Long-Term Care (LTC) Homes in Ontario, derived from information published by the provincial government. We wanted to update the database and describe our primary sources, methods, and final results.
Primary Sources
Our first primary source was the Ontario government’s Ministry of Health Service Provider Locations (MOHSERLO) geospatial dataset, which described 770 Retirement Home service providers in the province.
Our second primary source was Ontario’s Retirement Home Regulatory Authority’s (RHRA) website.
Methods
Working with the MOHSERLO dataset was pretty straightforward. We downloaded the dataset and its description on April 16, 2020. The dataset indicated that records for all Retirement Homes had last been modified on April 4, 2020. We corrected obvious data-entry errors and eliminated metadata fields that were extraneous for our purposes. The result is described and available for download below.
Working with the RHRA’s website was more challenging and time-consuming. The source code for results using the website’s Search API included links to Profiles and Inspection Findings on every Retirement Home. We used these links to automate a process for accessing Profiles of 774 licensed Retirement Homes (20 of these Retirement Homes held licenses that had been “Issued with conditions”).
Every researcher has their favourite tools for automating the collection of this sort of information. We won’t bother detailing our approach; however, to allow others to review the results, we have made the source code of the Profiles of every licensed Retirement Home on the RHRA website available as a ZIP file.
Close inspection of the RHRA Profiles identified various kinds of discrepancies vis-a-vis the MOHSERLO dataset.
First, the RHRA website included Profiles for five Retirement Homes (Promenades Seniors’ Suites; Riverfront Retirement Centre; Timberwalk Retirement Community; V!VA Whitby Shores Retirement Community; Wiarton Retirement Residence) that were issued licenses in March – April 2020 and had not yet been entered into the MOHSERLO dataset.
Second, the RHRA website indicated that three Retirement Homes in the MOHSERLO dataset no longer held valid licenses: two Retirement Homes (Amelie Residence and Davenhill Senior Living) had “surrendered” licenses; a third Retirement Home (Bethany Care Home of Norwich) had a “terminated” license. A fourth Retirement Home (Parkland on Eglinton West) had no entry in the RHRA database and, according to the Parkland corporate website, this Retirement Home isn’t scheduled to open until Fall 2020).
Final Results
The Ontario government’s MOHSERLO geospatial dataset and the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority website include matches for 766 Retirement Home service providers in the province. By consolidating these two primary sources into a single dataset (described in Table 1 and available as a CSV file or Excel spreadsheet), we hope to give researchers a better foundation for studying Retirement Homes in the province.
| Field | Definition |
|---|---|
| MOH_PRO_ID* | A unique identifier assigned to an MOH service provider. |
| NAME | English name of the Retirement Home service provider.** |
| ADDRESS | Street address of the Retirement Home service provider.** |
| COMMUNITY | The city, municipality or census subdivision within which the Retirement Home service is provided.** |
| POSTALCODE | The postal code of the Retirement Home service provider.** |
| OGF_ID | Ontario Geospatial Feature (OGF) Id. A unique numeric provincial identifier assigned to each object. |
| LON | The longitude of the Retirement Home service provider. |
| LAT | The latitude of the Retirement Home service provider. |
| SERV_TYPE | The type of health service provided, i.e. Retirement Home service. |
| _TELEPHONE* | The telephone number of the Retirement Home service provider. |
| _FAX | The FAX number of the Retirement Home service provider. |
| _WEBSITE | The corporate website of the Retirement Home service provider. |
| _EMAIL | The email address of the Retirement Home service provider. |
| _OPERATIONS_MANAGER | Person responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Retirement Home. |
| _LICENSE_NUMBER | Number of the license issued to the Retirement Home by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. |
| _LICENSE_STATUS | Retirement Home with a license “Issued” or “Issued with Conditions” |
| _LICENSE_FIRST_ISSUED | First issue date of the Retirement Home’s license. |
| _OWNER | Person(s) with a controlling interest in the Retirement Home. |
| _LICENSEE_NAME | Name of the person(s) or corporation holding the license to operate the Retirement Home. |
| _LICENSEE_ADDRESS | |
| _LICENSEE_COMMUNITY | |
| _LICENSEE_POSTALCODE | |
| _LICENSEE_CONTACT | Contact person for the licensee. |
| _LICENSED_BEDS | The number of beds that are licensed by the ministry in the Retirement Home. |
| _SUITES | Number of suites in the Retirement Home. |
| _SPRINKLERS | Are there automatic sprinklers in the Retirement Home? |
| _BATHING | Does the Retirement Home offer assistance with bathing? |
| _PERSONAL_HYGIENE | Does the Retirement Home offer assistance with personal hygiene? |
| _AMBULATION | Does the Retirement Home offer assistance with ambulation? |
| _FEEDING | Does the Retirement Home offer assistance with feeding? |
| _SKIN_AND_WOUND_CARE | Does the Retirement Home offer assistance with skin and wound care? |
| _CONTINENCE_CARE | Does the Retirement Home offer assistance with continence care? |
| _DRUG_ADMINISTRATION | Does the Retirement Home offer assistance with administration of drugs or another substance? |
| _MEALS | Does the Retirement Home provide meals? |
| _DEMENTIA_CARE | Does the Retirement Home offer assistance with dementia care? |
| _DRESSING | Does the Retirement Home offer assistance with dressing? |
| _PHARMACY | Does the Retirement Home offer any service that a member of the Ontario College of Pharmacists provides while engaging in the practice of pharmacy? |
| _MEDICINE | Does the Retirement Home offer any service that a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons provides while engaging in the practice of medicine? |
| _NURSING | Does the Retirement Home offer any service that a member of the College of Nurses of Ontario provides while engaging in the practice of nursing? |
| _REGISTRAR_ORDER | Date of the most recent Registrar Order, explaining what specific rules a Retirement Home isn’t following, and what they need to do to address the problem. |
| _EXTERNAL_PROCEEDING | Date of the most recent decision or proceeding from a court matter. |
| _OTHER_INFORMATION | Other information pertaining to the license to operate a Retirement Home. |
This work, including the database, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. If you should use this work, please credit Paul Allen, paul@hartallen.com.