Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists

Interprofessional Caseload Management Tool Project

The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT), The Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA) and the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA) are the partner organizations of the Interprofessional Caseload Management Tool project, funded by Health Canada.

What is a caseload management tool?

The Interprofessional Caseload Management Tool is intended to be an evidence-based tool or structured set of factors and considerations that will be designed to assist individual professionals, organizations and policy makers in determining effective caseload/workload management for occupational therapy , physiotherapy and speech-language pathology services in Canada. This work will integrate an understanding of the competencies of the three professions into a caseload/workload management planning tool which is intended to facilitate the effective and efficient matching of human resources to a wide variety of client populations and service delivery models.

Why develop a caseload management tool?

With growing demands on services, recruitment and retention issues, caseload/workload management has been identified by members of the three professions as one of major significance to themselves as health professionals, to their patients and to the health delivery system. Caseload/workload management has and continues to be determined primarily by economic factors, that is, the funding allocations available for occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech-language pathology positions. With global budgets steadily diminishing, little consideration is given to patient and population health needs in workforce planning for these professions. The status quo or existing numbers of funded positions are frequently used as the gold standard despite reports of therapists facing increased numbers of patients with complex health issues. This situation is leading to therapist recruitment and retention issues and patients experiencing lengthy wait times and unmet health needs.

The Caseload Management Tool Project is funded by Health Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.