All interprofessional primary health care organizations, as well as hospitals and long-term care facilities, are required to submit a quality improvement plan (QIP) to Ontario Health every year. QIPs are due by March 31 for the fiscal year that begins on April 1.

QIPs are submitted to OH through their online QIP Navigator tool. The QIP navigator is now open to receive your 2024-25 QIPs. On January 17, 2024, we hosted a Lunch 'n' Learn webinar. Lindsay Sleeth, Senior Specialist in Quality Improvement at Ontario Health provided an overview of this year's priority issues and suggested indicators as well as the resources available from Ontario Health to help organizations prepare. Watch it below, and access the slide deck here.

 

#QIP Priority Issues and Indicators for 2024-25

Each year, OH selects several priority issues and suggested indicators for the QIP program. Although it is mandatory to submit a QIP, the suggested indicators are optional. Since 2019, the Alliance has encouraged our members to use a set of Common QIP indicators developed and ratified by our membership.

OH’s priority issues and indicators for 2024-25 are closely aligned with the Alliance's core values, as reflected in our Common QIP indicators (see below), collective QI efforts, and Health Equity Charter. At the system level, priorities issues (and indicators for hospitals) are aligned with what our sector has always done well: reducing unnecessary emergency department visits and hospitalizations, population health, and equity. 

This year’s priority issues are:

  • Access & Flow. 
  • Equity 
  • Patient/Client and Provider Experience
  • Safety 

For Primary Health Care organizations, the suggested indicators associated with these priority issues are:

  • Patient/client perception of timely access to care (Access & Flow)
  • Number of new patients/clients/enrolment (Access & Flow)
  • Percentage of staff (executive-level, management, or all) who have completed relevant equity, diversity, inclusion, and antiracism education (Equity)
  • Completion of sociodemographic data collection (Equity)
  • Do patients/clients feel comfortable and welcome? (Experience)
  • Do patients/clients feel involved in decisions about their care? (Experience)

#Common QIP Indicators for Alliance Member Organizations

As always, the suggested indicators from Ontario Health are optional. Organizations are encouraged to develop indicators that reflect needs and improvement opportunities that are relevant to their clients, communities, and workplaces. We encourage our members to use the common QIP indicators that were developed and ratified by our membership in 2018. They are:

  • Completion of Sociodemographic Data Collection
  • Stratified Cervical Cancer Screening Rate
  • Client Feels Comfortable and Welcome at CHC
  • Client Involvement in Decisions about their Care
  • Client Perception of Timely Access to Care

More information about the Common QIP indicators can be found in the documents below:

#Support for Sociodemographic Data Collection & New Sociodemographic Indicators

In 2020, Alliance members made a unanimous commitment to improving the collection of health equity (sociodemographic) data, with a goal of achieving a 75% completion rate across the sector by December 31, 2024. To help our members meet this coal, the Alliance has committed to providing tools and supports for our members, including:

  • Sociodemographic data placemats, updated quarterly, reflecting each member's rates of complete, unusable, and missing data for each of the sociodemographic domains. 
  • Foundations of Equity, a year-long learning collaborative (May 2022 - April 2023).
  • RALI: Advancing Sociodemographic Data Collection for Equity. Our new Rapid Action Learning Intensive (RALI) collaborative learning model was pilot-tested in the Summer of 2023. The next RALI will begin in January of 2024 with a focus on improving sociodemographic data. To learn m more or sign up, email QI@AllianceON.org.

In January 2024, the health equity questionnaire used by our members to collect sociodemographic data was updated. The updated questionnaire is similar to the previous version, with the following improvements:

  • Clients can choose multiple response categories for many questions.
  • Questions and response options about gender identity and sexuality questions have been updated for clarity and inclusiveness and to reflect current terminology.
  • Several optional questions about social need have been added.

The updated questionnaire uses a new custom form in TELUS PS Suite, our sector's common EMR. Data from the new and old questionnaires will be seamlessly integrated. More information and links to tools that can help you integrate the new questionnaire into your workflow can be found here. It is important to note that data from both questionnaires will be counted equally towards your data completion rate.

#QIP Navigator & Organizational QIP Resources from Ontario Health

All OH QIP resources, including the guidance document, technical specifications, and a blank QIP template, can now be accessed from the QIP Navigator page. With the exception of the webinar recording, all are available in both English and French. These resources include: 

On November 22, 2023, Ontario Health Ontario Health (OH) launched the 2024-25 Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) program with a webinar introducing this year’s priority issues and outlining the suggested indicators for each sector. The webinar recording is available here (English only). The webinar slides can be accessed here. Also available in French). 

OH will also be hosting drop-in QIP support sessions on several afternoons in January. Sign up here.  

The QIP Navigator online QIP submission form for 2024-25 opened on December 6, 2023 and will remain open until March 31, 2024.

The new Query QIPs tool allows you to generate reports from other organizations' previous QIPs and progress reports by sector, theme, year, and keyword. No login is required. This tool can be a helpful resource when developing the narrative portion of your QIP.

#Resources to Support OHT-Level Collaborative Quality Improvement Plans (cQIPs)

Priority issues and indicators for this year's Collaborative Quality Improvement Plans (CQIPs), which are to be completed by OHTs, were launched on January 18, 2024. We have been advised that the indicators are exactly the same as they were in 2023-24: ALC, Access to Community Mental Health & Addiction Support, and Cancer Screening. Watch this page at Ontario Health for updated technical specifications, guidance document, and narrative questions - coming soon! - and get started now by reviewing the other cQIP tools and resources posted there, including a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document and as well as Change Concepts and Ideas for each of the three priority areas.