About Quality and Innovation
Our program exists to make primary care in Canada – and the world – even better than it is.
High quality primary care means providing care that:
- Is timely and available when you need it
- Meets the specific needs, preferences, and values of patients
- Is based on the best research evidence
- Is safe and does not accidentally harm someone
- Is efficient and does not waste scarce healthcare resources
- Helps everyone achieve excellent health regardless of their background or circumstances
Ultimately, we aim to improve the health outcomes and patient experience for those we serve while maintaining costs and ensuring provider wellness.
To learn more about our work, read our recent annual report (linked below), and explore the sections below. You can also explore our previous annual reports.
Program Workplan
We strive to improve quality in primary care through:
- Leadership: building capacity in the current and future primary care workforce
- Evidence: using and generating evidence on how to improve quality
- Support: directly supporting clinicians & teams to learn and improve
- Dialogue: working with government, clinician, and patients to influence policy and practice
View a visual of our program workplan.
Who We Are
Visit the QI Team page to learn more about our program staff and hospital site directors, led by Dr. Tara Kiran, Vice-Chair, Quality and Innovation at DFCM, U of T.
Visit the Patient Partners at DFCM page to learn more about the QI Program's patient engagement initiatives, meet the partners, download the handbook and other materials, and find out about the research behind its creation.
Publications
Over the last decade, our teams have been working to understand and improve gaps in quality in their primary care practices. Explore a selection of innovation reports, commentaries, and research publications that highlight some of our efforts and summarize lessons learned.
Contact Us
For all general inquiries, questions, feedback or program inquiries, contact:
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Faculty |
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Dr. Tara Kiran, MD, MSc, CCFP, FCFP |
Fidani Chair, Improvement and Innovation & |
339 |
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Administration |
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Erin Plenert |
Program Manager |
340 |
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Marisa Schwartz |
Administrative Officer |
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What Is Primary Care?
Every day, more than 150,000 Ontarians visit a family doctor. Some visit because they feel unwell. Others come for a preventive checkup. Many more come because they have a health condition like diabetes, high blood pressure or depression.
Family doctors listen, examine, diagnose, counsel, write prescriptions, order tests and, in some cases, refer to specialist colleagues for advice. They play a key role co-ordinating care between different health professionals and social services.
It’s not surprising that countries with strong primary care have better health outcomes and spend less on health care.