Grant: Team Grant: Community-Based Primary Healthcare - Full Application

A strong community-based PHC (CBPHC) system will give Canadians more equitable care with better population outcomes at reduced cost. Canada has invested over $1billion in renewing CBPHC over the last decade. Despite some efforts no one data source can capture or represent innovations in CBPHC performance in Canada. Our goal is to demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of comparative and comprehensive PHC performance measurement and reporting in regions as a foundation to inform innovation in the delivery and organization of the Canadian PHC system. We will collect survey data (in English and French) from CBPHC organizations, patients, and clinicians in three sociodemographically comparable regions in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. We will link their responses to health administrative data and the patients' chart data. We will carry out four conceptually linked research projects. With this program of research, we will help make Canada a leader in evaluating the effectiveness of CBPHC innovations. Our proposal is original in its development and application of methods and measures. We develop a complex vulnerability index and use it to report on healthcare equity. We apply theoretical foundations of complexity theory and an equity lens and use mixed methods to guide conceptualization, data collection and analyses throughout this program of research. Our surveys and innovative data management and collection processes will influence research, quality improvement and policy development across Canada and internationally. Through our case studies we will identify conditions and strategies for scaling-up innovative models of CBPHC. We extend and evaluate a new method to extract data from electronic medical records (EMRs). Our proposal is original in its application of social media to assist with integrated knowledge translation and exchange. We use deliberative dialogue and crowdsourcing.Finally, we are an interprofessional team working together on this research.