Health Technologies Fund

The Health Technologies Fund (HTF) supports the development of made-in-Ontario health technologies by accelerating evaluation, procurement, adoption and diffusion in the Ontario health system. HTF is a program of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care administered by Ontario Centres of Excellence. 

HTF fosters partnerships between publicly funded health service providers (HSPs), patients, academia and industry to drive collaboration that improves patient outcomes, adds value to the health system and creates jobs in Ontario.

Program Summary

Program Name

Health Technologies Fund

Program Status and Submission Deadline

Closed for Applications

What it Supports

Applications from Health Innovation Teams (HITs) in evaluating and demonstrating innovative technologies in health care settings across the province

Project Sector

Health technologies

Basic Eligibility Criteria

(A full list of eligibility requirements is available.)

Applicant:

  • Ontario public health service provider organization(s) [Family Health Teams, community care providers, long-term care homes, and hospitals]

Technology Partner:

  • An Ontario-based, for-profit health technology business providing an innovative solution to the problem statement
  • Partners may be of any size or stage (start-up, small- to medium-sized enterprise, and multinational enterprise) with a research and development, and/or manufacturing presence in Ontario

Third-party evaluation provider:

  • Ontario-based evaluation team with expertise in technology adoption and diffusion, design and implementation, and health economics

Other partners:

  • Other partners such as community-based associations and advocacy groups are strongly recommended

Projects:

  • Pre-Market Evaluation projects involve a HIT collaborating to implement a validated technology in a health care setting to understand the conditions necessary for successful implementation, and to develop evidence to support broader uptake of the technology
  • Early Adoption projects support validated, market-ready technologies that have been successfully implemented in one or more health care settings

Problem Statement:

  • The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has identified the following health priorities to focus innovation: Better Care Closer to Home

HTF Funding

Pre-Market Evaluation projects will support up to 50 per cent of the eligible project cash costs up to a maximum amount of $500,000 

Early Adoption projects will support up to 50 per cent of the eligible project cash costs up to a maximum amount of $1,000,000

Project Duration

Up to 24 months

Matching Requirement

1:1 cash from the applicant/industry partner

How to Apply

See details on the How to Apply tab.

Contact

Search OCE’s Knowledge Base of Frequently Asked Questions. For further assistance, see details on the Contacts tab.
More program information

Program Overview and Benefits

The Health Technologies Fund (HTF) supports the development of made-in-Ontario health technologies by accelerating evaluation, procurement, adoption and diffusion in the Ontario health system. HTF is a program of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care administered by Ontario Centres of Excellence. 

HTF fosters partnerships between publicly funded health service providers (HSPs), patients, academia and industry to drive collaboration that improves patient outcomes, adds value to the health system and creates jobs in Ontario.

The HTF has two types of projects, tailored to the readiness level of the innovative solution.

Pre-Market Evaluation

Pre-Market Evaluation projects involve a Health Innovation Team (HIT) collaborating to implement a validated technology in a health care setting to understand the conditions necessary for successful implementation and to develop evidence to support broader uptake of the technology. Projects must align with the theme of Better Care Closer to Home and the technologies must have obtained required regulatory approvals and received initial user feedback. 

Activities may include identifying changes required to clinical workflow to successfully integrate the technology, generating evidence to support future procurement and adoption, and developing an adoption plan.

Exclusions: Activities not supported include clinical trials to assess the safety or efficacy of the technology and all activities outside of the province of Ontario.

Outputs: Upon completion of a Pre-Market Evaluation project, HITs should have identified clinical workflow changes and other changes needed to effectively integrate the technology into the health care setting, generated evidence that supports further adoption (e.g. an economic analysis that examines the cost effectiveness of the technology and potential value to the health system), and a plan to support wider adoption, wider-scale procurement and adoption of the technology in Ontario.

Early Adoption

The Early Adoption projects support validated, market-ready technologies that have been successfully implemented in one or more health care settings. Early Adoption projects involve a Health Innovation Team (HIT) collaborating to perform an additional implementation (and preferably multiple implementations) of the technology (in one or more health care settings) in order to evaluate the technology across multiple implementations, to generate further evidence to support value-based procurement and wide-scale adoption and to develop an adoption plan.

Early Adoption projects must align with the theme of Better Care Closer to Home and the technologies must have obtained required regulatory approvals and received initial user feedback. Furthermore, the technology must have supporting institutional use case data, including clinical and economic evidence of value.

Activities may include: identifying changes required to clinical workflow to successfully integrate the technology, knowledge translation and user training, establishing new evidence to facilitate integration into the broader health system (e.g., across multiple LHINs), developing further clinical or economic evidence, developing an adoption plan and developing an value-based procurement plan for participating health care providers.

Exclusions: Activities not supported include clinical trials to assess the safety or efficacy of the technology and all activities outside of the province of Ontario.

Outputs:  Upon completion of an Early Adoption project, HITs should have identified clinical workflow changes and other changes needed for successful implementation, generated sufficient evidence to support wider adoption and developed a plan for wider-scale procurement and adoption of the technology in Ontario. 

Problem Statement

Problem Statement

The themes for the individual funding rounds are identified by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. 

Round 3 Theme: Better Care Closer to Home

  • Client and Care Team Communication – Develop or adopt solutions that change how clients and caregivers communicate with their care team. Projects should have capabilities including, but not limited to: secure communication; viewing and scheduling appointments; and, enabling access to information such as care plans and assessment results.
  • Continuity of Care Provider - Develop or adopt an existing logistics and routing tool that allows home and community care providers to better match staff skills, competencies and availability with client needs. The solution should enable improved continuity of providers on a client’s care team. The tool could include functions that support transportation and other services for clients in the community.
  • Supporting Clients to Live Independently – Support the development and adoption of solutions that enable older adults and home care clients to age in place and live independently. This can include devices and/or solutions that assist with activities of daily living, such as personal hygiene, locomotion and eating.

How Funding Works

HTF Contribution

Pre-Market Evaluation projects will support up to 50 per cent of the eligible project cash costs up to a maximum amount of $500,000 for a term of up to 24 months.

Early Adoption projects will support up to 50 per cent of the eligible project cash costs up to a maximum amount of $1,000,000 for a term of up to 24 months.

Applicants / Project Partner Contribution

50 per cent (minimum cash) of total eligible project costs (i.e. minimum 1:1 cash match to HTF contribution)

Example

Total eligible project costs: $100,000

  • Maximum HTF contribution: $50,000 cash
  • Minimum project team contribution: $50,000 cash

Funding Recipient

Applicant organization (health service provider)

Institutional Overhead

Not eligible

Pre-Market Evaluation projects will support up to 50 per cent of the eligible project cash costs up to a maximum amount of $500,000 for a term of up to 24 months.

Early Adoption projects will support up to 50 per cent of the eligible project cash costs up to a maximum amount of $1,000,000 for a term of up to 24 months.

  • Applicants/Project Contributors must contribute the remaining 50 per cent of eligible project cash costs as a minimum requirement.
  • Funding for the projects will be released to the Applicant Organization (health service provider) that will be responsible for reimbursing their project partner(s).

Eligible Use of Funds

Note: Eligible Phases may differ depending on the Health Priorities associated with the funding rounds. Refer to the Eligible Phases indicated in each of the Problem Statements.

Refer to the Eligible Expenses document for full details.

Eligibility Requirements

Health Innovation Teams (HITs)

  • The HTF is designed to encourage applications from Health Innovation Teams (HITs) in evaluating and demonstrating innovative technologies in health care settings across the province. HITs are interdisciplinary and collaborative teams made up of:
    • Applicant: One or more publicly funded health service provider(s) (HSP). Eligible health care system applicants include (but are not limited to) family health teams, community care providers, long-term care homes and hospitals. The HSPs define the problem statement and commits to providing the health care setting in which the innovative technology will be evaluated, including patient engagement, clinicians and operations support and procurement expertise.
    • Technology partner: An Ontario-based, for-profit health technology business providing an innovative solution to the problem statement. Partners may be of any size or stage (start-up, small- to medium-sized enterprise and multinational enterprise) with a research and development and/or manufacturing presence in Ontario.
    • Third-Party Evaluation Provider: Ontario-based evaluation team with expertise in technology adoption and diffusion, design and implementation and health economics. The evaluation component of the project should support the development of a plan to support wider-scale procurement and/or adoption of the technology in Ontario.
    • Other partners: other partners such as community-based associations and advocacy groups are strongly recommended. In addition, HITs are strongly encouraged to engage one or more Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) partners, who can provide sector expertise to ensure project development and implementation meets sector and local needs. If the LHIN is not already a partner, projects are encouraged to gain a letter of endorsement from their respective LHIN as part of their application.
  • All proposals MUST be submitted by Health Innovation Teams (HITs)
  • The health service provider (HSP) organization is designated as the lead applicant and commits to providing the clinical setting in which the innovative technology will be evaluated, including clinician and operations support, project management support, procurement specialists and patients
  • Applicants and their partner(s) MUST be in good financial and reporting standing with OCE
  • Participants will agree to provide project metrics and progress reports to OCE, as well as participating in knowledge sharing activities as required for the Program

Project

Health Priority Area and alignment with Problem Statement:  The health priority areas support the Patients First: A Roadmap to Strengthen Home and Community Care Roadmap, which strengthens the MOHLTC’s commitment to put people and patients first by improving the health care experience.

HTF Projects must include a “Problem Statement” identified by the health service provider (HSP).  The Problem Statement must align with one of the health priority areas. 

  • Pre-Market Evaluation projects: technologies must have obtained all required regulatory approvals, received initial user validation, and be ready to be tested with one (1) health service provider (HSP)
  • Early Adoption projects: technologies must have obtained all required regulatory approvals and be market-ready. Furthermore, technologies must have been successfully implemented with more than one health service providers, and must have supporting institutional use case data, including clinical and economic evidence of value 
  • The following activities and technologies are not supported in Pre-Market Evaluation and Early Adoption projects:
    • Technology development - only minor updates for integration purposes are eligible;
    • Evaluation, research, and clinical trials of medicines or vaccines;
    • Clinical trials to assess the safety or efficacy of the technology; and,
    • All activities outside of the province of Ontario

NOTE:  All projects MUST address the potential economic benefit to the technology company resulting from an HTF project should be realized in Ontario (e.g., job creation, incremental revenue, follow-on financing).

More program information

How to Apply

Program Status: Closed for applications

The application is a two-step process:

  1. Expressions of Interest (EOI) Phase
  2. Full Application Phase (invitation only)

Expression of Interest (EOI) Phase

To begin the EOI submission process, please complete a Client Intake Form.  An OCE Business Development Manager (BDM) or the Innovation Procurement Manager (IPM) will contact you to discuss the opportunity and assist you with the initiating and developing of the EOI.  The BDM and/or IPM will maintain oversight responsibility for the OCE components of any approved project.

Once an application is initiated, applicants MUST complete all requisite information requested in the online application module and upload a completed EOI form to the module.  Applications MUST be initiated at least one week in advance of the submission deadline.  Applications initiated less than a week in advance of the submission deadline may not have sufficient time for a BDM and/or IPM to support the application.

Please complete all the information in the EOI template to ensure:

  • The proposal’s font and format are maintained
  • The EOI document is uploaded as an attachment (only PDF format is accepted) to the online application form through AccessOCE
  • Commitment letter required by the Health Service Provider (HSP) lead is uploaded
    • Letter should outline level of commitment (Cash and/or in-kind), types of activities to support and rationale why this proposed project is a priority

Upon review of your EOI, OCE may request additional information or clarification to determine project eligibility. You will be notified via email and asked to follow up accordingly. This documentation will be appended to the submission.

Full Application Phase (invitation only)

EOIs will be assessed based on the EOI Assessment Criteria.  A limited number of EOIs will be invited to submit a Full Application through AccessOCE, which will include the submission requirements (Full Proposal template, comprehensive Milestones Table, budget & justification, all other requisite information requested in AccessOCE.  Follow-up to any of the EOI questions may also be requested).

Application Endorsement

Prior to submission, applicants MUST first request their BDM provide an “Endorsement” of the application for eligibility and suitability.  Once the “Endorsement” is provided, the applicant or BDM will then be able to submit the application.

Please allow at least one week prior to the application submission deadline for the “BDM Endorsement” step to be completed.  Applications initiated less than one week prior to the deadline MAY NOT have sufficient time for a BDM to support the application and provide an endorsement.

Successful applicants and their partners MUST execute OCE’s standard Funding Agreement, including a completed Schedule D, Intellectual Property Term Sheet, within 30 days of notification of award. A copy of the Funding Agreement can be downloaded for your reference. Please do not fill out this form; a copy of the agreement will be generated through our online management system and sent to you upon approval of your project.

 

Timelines

Activity

Date

Award Notifications to Applicants

April 2019

Note: Timelines may be subject to change

Assessment Process and Criteria

The Health Technologies Fund is a discretionary, non-entitlement program with limited funding. All eligible applications undergo a review process where the applications are assessed against program objectives and assessment criteria. Not all eligible applications will be approved for funding.

Expression of Interest (EOI) Phase

EOIs are reviewed internally for application completeness, eligibility, financial compliance and alignment with the program objectives.  EOIs will be reviewed and ranked by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and OCE. Highly ranked EOIs will be invited to submit Full Applications.  

Full Application Phase

Full Applications are internally reviewed for completeness, eligibility, and financial compliance (appropriate use of funds) prior to evaluation by an External Review Panel (ERP).  Applications will be reviewed by an ERP of domain experts against program objectives and assessment criteria.  Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) will be completed by the ERP members prior to receipt and review of the Full Applications and other supporting documentation.

Project Presentation Phase

Full Applications will be invited to present the HTF project to the ERP.  The presentation can be provided in-person and/or virtually.

Funding Decisions

The ERP provides funding recommendations to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and OCE.  The OCE Internal Review Panel (IRP) is responsible for reviewing the funding recommendations by the ERP and providing a final recommendation to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. 

More program information

Flow of Funds

Funding for the project will be released to the Applicant Organization (health service provider) that will be responsible for reimbursing their project partner(s). Upon project activation, an initial advance may be released. Further payments will be reimbursed upon receipt and approval of expenditure reports. Note: the percentage of reimbursement is based on the percentage of the HTF contributions in relation to the total project value.

Project Reporting Requirements

The following project reports will be required. 

Please note that to receive funding from OCE, the applicant MUST complete all required reports as a contractual obligation.

Progress and Financial Report(s)

  • Progress report(s), including project progress, proof of expenditures, and a financial attestation, will be required bi-annually.Two reports [(1) April – September (2) October – March] per OCE fiscal year (April 1st – March 31st), in addition to a final report. The applicant organization will receive notification and a link from the AccessOCE system to submit the report. The report must be received and approved by OCE prior to release of funds for eligible financial claims.
  • Note: Applicants MUST retain all proof of purchases, receipts, and other relevant documentation relating to eligible expenses. This documentation may be requested by OCE in review of the claims.

Final Results and Financial Report(s)

  • A final report, including progress, proof of expenditures, and a financial attestation, will be required at the end of the project. Forty-five days prior to the scheduled completion date, the Applicant will receive an email notification of the project end date from the AccessOCE system, with a link to the Final Progress and Financial Report should the Applicant wish to begin entering data.
  • If a project extension is required, the Applicant MUST request it using the Project Administration tab in their AccessOCE project file.
  • On the scheduled project completion date, the Applicant will receive another notification and a link to complete the Final Project Progress and Financial Claim Report from the AccessOCE system.
  • All required final reports by all Applicants must be submitted within 30 days of project completion in order to be reimbursed for eligible expenses and maintain good financial standing with OCE. 
  • If early reporting is required, the Applicant MAY request it by emailing the Program Manager.

Project Metrics

  • If the project continues past a fiscal year end (March 31), the applicant and industry partner(s) will be required to complete an annual metrics survey each April, for the part of the project that has been completed since the previous March 31. This annual report is mandatory for OCE to fulfil its contract with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Required metrics reports from all partners must be submitted in order to maintain good financial standing with OCE.

For More Information

Search OCE’s Knowledge Base of Frequently Asked Questions.

For inquiries specifically related to eligibility, contracting and funding disbursements, please contact: Jennifer Moles, Innovation Procurement Manager, at


How to Apply

Program Status: Closed for Applications


Examples of successful HTF projects
​Last update: February 1, 2019