Our Goal

To find the best ways to achieve system integration and bring together the best teams to get that work done, so Albertans can experience excellent continuity of care.

Our Work

Together with our partners, we define leading operational practices for improving system integration. We look for the best ways to improve processes that will lead to seamless care and improved continuity between different parts of the healthcare system.

Our work begins with questions like:

• How can we make sure patients’ medical information follows them from one provider to another?
• How can we connect Albertans with the right social supports?
• How can we ensure family doctors know when their patients are in the hospital, and when they are discharged into the community?
• How can we help reduce wait times to improve access to specialists?

Our Scientific Office takes on these and other questions, enabling researchers across the province to build the evidence that informs system integration work.

Our Team

Embedded within the AHS Provincial Primary Health Care Program, the PHCIN works closely with a range of partners such as primary care providers, clinicians, AHS zones and provincial programs, Primary Care Networks, other SCNs, Alberta Health, patients and their families, as well as researchers and academics.

Our Approach

PHCIN teams are involved in all stages of this work, from co-design to implementation. We keep an eye out for innovation and continuous quality improvement opportunities. If a clinic in Lethbridge is running a project with potential to improve integration, we spread the word across the province and work to facilitate scalability.

Keeping a focus on community-based primary care services, the PHCIN strives to ensure Albertans get the support they need to navigate the healthcare system safely and easily.