Strengthening Primary Care in Northern, Rural and Remote Communities

Healthcare Excellence Canada is launching a new program to strengthen team-based primary care in northern, rural and remote communities. Apply by September 25, 2023 to help improve access to safe, including culturally safe, high-quality primary care in your community.

People who live in these communities often prefer care closer to home, avoiding medical transport and transfers, but they tend to have poorer access to primary care compared to their urban-dwelling counterparts. Healthcare providers also experience unique opportunities and challenges, including broader scopes of practice, travel and helping patients and families navigate remote services and medical travel.

In the midst of these circumstances, northern, rural and remote communities and the people who live, work and play in them also have and continue to demonstrate incredible commitment and resourcefulness that build on community strengths and respond to the health needs of the communities they serve.

Strengthening Primary Care in Northern, Rural and Remote Communities (Strengthening Primary Care) is designed to help address these circumstances by bringing together primary care providers and organizations and supporting them to advance their unique improvement goals. Participants in this program will receive tailored support to implement or strengthen a promising practice to improve equitable access to safe, including culturally safe, high-quality team-based primary care closer to home. Strengthening Primary Care will support up to 20 teams across Canada.

This new program will help spread promising practices that are improving access to primary care in specific parts of the country and:

• Improve patient and provider experiences of care
• Make care safer, including more culturally safe
• Reduce avoidable emergency department visits

Benefits of participating

• Seed funding (up to approximately $50,000 per team)
• Virtual and in-person networking, coaching, and learning events to promote pan-Canadian, regional, and community-level sharing and collaborations
• Resources and capability-building supports
• Measurement and evaluation support
• Opportunities to guide and inform development of new resources to help strengthen team-based primary care

Program activities will run from November 2023 to September 2024.

Who should apply

We encourage groups that prioritize team-based primary care in northern, rural, and remote communities to apply. This includes but is not limited to:

• Primary care providers and clinics
• Community-based organizations
• Municipalities
• Regional health authorities
• Indigenous governments/organizations
• Provincial/territorial governments

This program is open to groups at all stages of their quality improvement journey. Whether you have recently identified a need, have conceptualized a solution, or have already initiated implementation, this program is designed to guide and support you throughout the process.

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