Pan-Canadian health organizations (PCHOs) play an important role in supporting improvement in the health system – a role that can be strengthened through focused collaboration and coordination among our organizations.
That’s why Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC) and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) have identified four areas for closer strategic alliance, captured in a recently signed letter of intent.
“A deeper strategic alignment will enable both organizations to advance the use of data for quality improvement efforts and to support better informed care and system-level decision making – all clear priorities underpinning Canada’s pandemic recovery,” reads the letter, signed in April 2024.
“CIHI can seek expertise within HEC to drive adoption of quality and safety innovations that benefit health systems across the country. HEC, building on its success as a catalyst for change, can broaden its capabilities to enable excellence in the health and health care space while leveraging CIHI’s strong relationships and access to pan-Canadian data.”
Key areas for collaboration
Capturing shared priorities in a letter of intent signals each organization’s commitment to deliberate collaboration that delivers measurable outcomes and supports health system partners in ways they need it most.
HEC and CIHI have identified four strategic areas for deeper and more focused collaboration between the two organizations:
Building an enhanced support model for data access – Providing an enhanced and more rapid support model for access to CIHI’s health system data, to enable effective and efficient quality and safety improvement work by HEC, with a focus on advancing priority topics including: care of older adults with health and social needs; care closer to home and community with safe transitions; health workforce retention and support; and patient safety including hospital harm and culturally safe and equitable care.
Advancing quality and safe care in shared priority areas – Identifying key areas to link data, indicators and improvement work and resources. HEC and CIHI can bring together the data story with related innovation and improvement needs/opportunities to create a more powerful driver for sustainable improvement in quality and safety with routinely collected data.
Aligning partners engagement – Creating efficiency and effectiveness in CIHI and HEC processes and forums for engagement, starting with a focus on northern/remote and regional established groups such as HEC’s Canadian Northern and Remote Health Network, CIHI’s Sparsely Populated Regions Advisory Group, and both CIHI’s Atlantic and Western Strategic Advisory Collaboratives.
Addressing Anti-Indigenous-Specific Racism, and Cultural Safety – In response to the requests of First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners for a more aligned approach between CIHI and HEC's respective work toward improved cultural safety, we will explore opportunities for CIHI and HEC's Indigenous Health teams to work together to support healthcare organizations and systems to address systemic racism and improve cultural safety.
Both organizations will monitor the impact of strengthened collaboration, sharing learnings with one another, partners, other PCHOs and funders as part of a shared commitment to learning, experimentation and evaluation.
