Grant: Operating Grant: SPOR PIHCI Network - Comparative Prg. and Policy Analysis

Primary health care (PHC) models in Canada continue to change. There are still many gaps in understanding what works and what does not work as well for PHC teams to promote integration and continuity of care, especially for those complex patients with more than one chronic condition. This research will be completed in four provinces across Canada including British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. The goal of our research is to study provincial and regional policy documents (guiding principles and courses of action) that support health services integration for complex patients through PHC teams. We will also study patient engagement in developing and applying policies. The study will include three phases. In Phase 1, we will collect and analyze all policy documents from the four provinces. We develop individual case reports and then compare the policies across the provinces. In Phase 2, we will carry out interviews with patients from each province and then hold a discussion session with patients in each province to discuss the research results and develop actions together. In Phase 3, we will obtain feedback through online and web-based discussions from a broad group of provincial and national stakeholders including patients. We will ask these stakeholders to develop recommendations and actions based on the research results. The results of the study will provide us with a set of leading national practices for integrated health services delivery through PHC teams. The results will be helpful to participating provinces, other provinces in Canada, as well as internationally.