Our Strategy
Excellence in care is advancing across Canada. New ways of working, stronger collaboration and shared learning are building momentum for meaningful improvement. Our refreshed 2026–31 strategy builds on five years of progress, focusing action where impact is greatest — moving care forward toward safer, higher-quality healthcare for everyone.
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Built With Voices from Across Canada
Our refreshed 2026–31 strategy reflects 18 months of listening and learning with more than 1,200 patients, caregivers, healthcare providers, policymakers and partners.
What we heard was clear: equity, inclusion and cultural safety are non-negotiable, gaps in access to safe, connected, high-quality care persist - especially for people with primary health care needs and older adults with health and social needs - and people want care shaped by lived experience and better connected closer to home.
We also heard that how we work matters as much as what we work on. Partners value our collaborative, inclusive approach and our role as a trusted, neutral convenor — bringing people, evidence and action together to spread what works.
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Our purpose at Healthcare Excellence Canada is to shape a future where everyone in Canada has safe, high-quality healthcare.
How we create change
Healthcare excellence happens when people learn together and act together. We bring people, evidence and action together through three connected paths to impact.
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We help what works reach more people and more places
We do this through various programs and initiatives, including collaboratives, challenges and awards. They support shared learning and spread effective approaches across the system.
Sustaining change takes more than good ideas — it takes people with the skills, confidence and support to lead it.
Enabling teams to have the skills, confidence and support to lead and sustain change. We do this through leadership development programs, online and in-person learning programs, and practical tools and frameworks.
We convene people, evidence and lived experience to inform policies and practices that enable better care.
By bringing people, evidence and lived experience together we help shape systems that enable safer, higher-quality care. We do this by creating spaces where evidence, lived experience and system leadership come together. This happens through national and regional networks, collaboratives and policy-focused activities.
What We're Focused On
Over the next five years, we are focusing on two connected priorities:
Transforming quality, safety, and value across the health system
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Healthcare excellence does not happen by chance. It is built on strong foundations that shape how care is designed, delivered and improved. These include:
Patient, Caregiver and Community Perspectives
People in Workforce Perspectives
First Nations, Inuit and Métis Priorities
Cultural Safety and Equity
Appropriate Use of Technology
Expanding access to safe, connected, high-quality care closer to home
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We're working to find and expand the reach of innovations that equitably deliver care where people live and when they need it. These include:
People with primary health care needs
Older adults with health and social needs
Our Values
To guide our actions, decisions and culture, we:
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Partner meaningfully
We can do more together than on our own. Within HEC and with partners, collaboration accelerates progress towards our shared goals.
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Innovate courageously
We seek and promote bold ideas that deliver meaningful gains in the safety and quality of healthcare, as well as agile approaches to pursuing excellence in care at HEC.
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Act with integrity
Credibility, honesty, and respect matter at HEC. We treat others the way we would like to be treated. Together, we build trust, make evidence-informed choices, and support mutual accountability.
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Are inclusive
No matter what we look like or where we live, excellence in healthcare matters to everyone. Within HEC and in our work, we embrace diverse perspectives and the value of each person’s unique experiences.
Moving Care Forward
In spring of 2025, HEC launched a pan-Canadian movement of people sharing knowledge and applying proven approaches to improve healthcare quality and safety for at least one million people across the country.
Today, Care Forward is how we bring our strategy to life with partners across the country.
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Learn more and get involved
Learn more about our strategy and the different ways you can get involved.
Read the full strategy
PDF (825 KB)A detailed look at the context, priorities and paths to impact shaping HEC’s work from 2026–31.
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Download the one-page strategy overview
PDF (1 MB)A concise summary of our purpose, focus areas and how we create change.
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Move Care Forward
Care ForwardConnect with others, share learning and be part of the next stage of improvement.
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