Program Overview :
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who is eligible to participate?
All long-term care (LTC) homes in Canada, whether public or private (for-profit or not-for-profit), are eligible to participate in this program. LTC homes include residential care spaces which provide a wide range of health and personal care services for residents with medical or physical needs who require access to 24-hour nursing care, personal care and other therapeutic and support services.
Sites are not eligible to participate if they are:
- A retirement home
- Located outside of Canada
- A department or agency of the Government of Canada
- Do not otherwise satisfy the requirements set out in the Terms and Conditions (PDF 492 KB)
Sites located in British Columbia must be pre-approved by Health Quality BC to register for the program. For more information on the registration of sites from British Columbia, please contact longtermcare@healthqualitybc.ca.
2. Can more than one long-term-care home register from the same organization?
Yes, multiple LTC homes that belong to the same organization or corporation can register for the program. Each home must register as a single site with an established team. Team members can register to participate on more than one team.
3. If my organization has multiple sites, does each site have to register separately?
Yes, each site must register separately. Since the structure of the program supports activities and rewards progress at a site level, each home must apply as a single site with an established team. This means that multi-site teams, including multiple homes that belong to one organization or corporation will not be accepted into the program as a group.
4. Is our site eligible for the program if we already have an appropriate use of antipsychotics (AUA) initiative underway?
Yes, we encourage all teams to join – whether you have already begun working towards improving the appropriate use of antipsychotics in your home, have a well-established AUA initiative in place, or are just getting started on a new AUA initiative.
For the two awards that require data reporting, teams are not evaluated solely on the amount of improvement shown in their AUA outcome measures. The scoring criteria assesses the project's overall approach and impact. There are five awards that will be determined by random draw.
Teams joining the program at any point in their AUA journey have the opportunity to win all the awards they submit to, and all participants will gain valuable insights from coaches, experts and other teams.
5. Can I register if I am not currently part of a team?
An individual can begin registration but will need to assemble a team to be eligible and meet all the eligibility requirements as outlined in the Terms and Conditions (PDF 492 KB) .
6. Who can be a team lead?
A team lead must satisfy the conditions outlined in the Terms and Conditions (PDF 492 KB). These include being a resident of Canada, having reached the legal age of majority in their province or territory, and having the authority and approval of site and team members associated with their team. The team lead is required to register their site into the program and identify their team members. There is also the option to share the team lead role with a second person (referred to as a co-lead).The team lead(s) will:
- be the primary point(s) of contact for Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC) and for team members throughout the program
- act as coordinator(s) for all the team’s activities (including, but not limited to, submission before the appropriate deadlines, cooperation in any verification process and award distribution)
- be responsible for the team’s registration
- agree to receive correspondence on behalf of the team at the email address(es) provided at registration, which serves as the primary mechanism through which HEC communicates with the team.
7. What roles must be part of each site’s team to register?
To register, a site must have:
- a team lead (see the “Who can be a team lead?” answer above)
- a senior officer or director from the site’s organization and can approve the site’s participation in the program on behalf of the organization
Additional roles and expertise in areas such as provision of care, resident and/or family engagement, pharmacology and measurement and data collection may be beneficial. A quality improvement team should generally have five to eight people (at least three) to support diverse opinions and experiences, as well as to share the work, making it a team effort. See Section 3 of the Terms and Conditions (PDF 492 KB) for more information.
8. Can additional team members be added after registration?
Yes, additional team members can be added to the team at any point during the program.
9. How will teams assess and report progress?
The program will provide content via webinars and coaching to assist teams on how to assess progress in a quality improvement initiative and specifically for the appropriate use of antipsychotics.
Teams are not required to report data to HEC to be eligible to participate in the program. However, to be eligible for an Improvement Plan Award, Progress Award and/or Impact Award, a team must submit the reported data to HEC in accordance with Section 10 of the Terms and Conditions (PDF 492 KB).
Teams are also encouraged to track and report additional outcome, balancing and process measures that support monitoring progress towards the aims of their initiatives and will have the opportunity to share this progress with HEC as part of the applicable award submissions.
Table 1: Required Reported Data
| Required Measure | Required Data Collection Period |
|---|---|
|
Required Outcome Measures:
|
Three (3) continuous months between:
|
|
Required Balancing Measure:
|
Also, please see reporting dates and requirements outlined in Section 8 of the Terms and Conditions (PDF 492 KB).
10. If more than one site in my organization participates, can they share data to be eligible for the awards?
Each site is required to submit unique, site-specific data, and must not utilize data from any other sites within the same organization. Each team must rely solely on the data collected at their respective location. The submission of duplicative data is not accepted. Please refer to Section 10 of the Terms and Conditions (PDF 492 KB) for further details.
11. The registration form asks for the “current number of residents prescribed antipsychotics without a diagnosis of psychosis at the home.” Why is this needed and how should this be calculated?
Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC) is a not-for-profit organization funded by Health Canada. HEC collects information as required by our Contribution Agreement with Health Canada. Data is reported in an aggregate format across all programming in our Performance Measurement Framework. This information is collected to contribute to HEC’s indicator on “potential population reach” and will not be used as baseline data for the registering home. Baseline data will only be collected by HEC from registered homes who submit for awards.
Please refer to CIHI’s indicator library for the definition, inclusion and exclusion criteria related to the potentially inappropriate use of antipsychotics in LTC to calculate the current number of residents prescribed antipsychotics without a diagnosis of psychosis at the home.
12. How will the awards be determined?
Awards will be determined either by random draw or by adjudication using a pre-determined set of evaluation criteria. For full details on each award, please see Section 8 of the Terms and Conditions (PDF 492 KB).
13. What are the chances that my team will win a monetary award?
The sooner your team registers, the more award opportunities you will have to win! In fact, your team could potentially be awarded up to $32,000, if you are able to maximize all that the program offers. The odds of being selected as an award recipient depends on the number of eligible submissions to each award.
Please refer to Section 8 of the Terms and Conditions (PDF 492 KB) and visit our program awards page for more information.
14. Are there criteria for how teams can use their monetary awards?
No, there are no criteria for how the award recipient (LTC home) may use the funds.
15. What is the role of the coaches and can teams schedule times to meet with a coach?
Each participating team will be assigned a coach (in their preferred language of English or French) who will be available to provide guidance and expertise related to their AUA project as well as upcoming award opportunities.
Coaches will bring a range of knowledge, experience and expertise related to AUA and other areas such as QI and change management. Teams will be able to connect with their coach via:
- Coaching hub sessions (alongside other teams) at the start of each award period
- By requesting additional support or asking questions via a coaching support form
- Occasional one-on-one calls
Coaching support is not mandatory but is a valuable resource for all registered teams to utilize during the program.
16. How can I join?
Your team can register here, anytime up until October 1, 2025. We encourage you to register early to take advantage of all program offerings and opportunities.
Joining the program is simple and can be done in under 10 minutes!
Registration will open on November 20, 2024, at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) and close on October 1, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. The team lead(s) will be required to complete the registration process for their team through the program portal. The team lead(s) will be required to submit the:
- name and contact information of the team lead(s);
- name and contact information of the site that will be associated with the team;
- name and contact information of the senior officer or director within the site, demonstrating endorsement of participation in the program;
- name and contact information of each team member that will be associated with the team;
- organization (business name) that will receive the award(s), if successful; and
- name and contact information of the financial contact within the organization who can provide all necessary banking information for depositing award funding, if successful.
Additional team members can be added to the team at any point during the program.
17. Where should we direct questions about Sparking Change in AUA?
Please contact us at AUA-UAA@hec-esc.ca. We look forward to hearing from you!
