Mission

Informing the public about quality is the bedrock of Health Quality Ontario’s mission. In order to do this effectively, the public must have confidence that Health Quality Ontario remains independent and not subject to influence from external parties who may be reluctant to disclose information about shortcomings when it comes to quality in the healthcare system.

Health Quality Ontario recognizes that many of the sources of information about quality reside within the healthcare system. In order to effectively tap into these sources, Health Quality Ontario will work constructively with healthcare organizations and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to develop a culture of public transparency and to refine the infrastructure needed to generate information on quality. In doing so, Health Quality Ontario will maintain clear expectations for informing the public on quality in an unbiased and objective fashion.

The mandate to “support continuous quality improvement” is interpreted to mean being a “catalyst for improvement.” Frontline providers, managers and policymakers all share ownership of quality improvement. Each of these groups has a unique role to play. As a catalyst, Health Quality Ontario will champion evidence about how to achieve the best possible care, encourage the adoption of quality improvement methodologies and skills, and provide expertise in quality improvement to healthcare organizations that request it, resources permitting. If there is an identifiable void in some area of the provincial quality improvement agenda, Health Quality Ontario may provide direct support to address the void while seeking out and mentoring emerging quality improvement leaders who can fill that void in the long term.

Vision

Health Quality Ontario has a vision of what quality looks like from the public’s perspective, as well as from a health system standpoint.

From the public’s perspective:

We achieve excellence in each attribute of quality: accessible, effective, safe, efficient, patient-centred, equitable, appropriately resourced, integrated, and focused on population health. Across each attribute, for each healthcare setting and healthcare condition, Ontario constantly strives to meet or exceed the best quality of care achieved elsewhere in the world. Where there is a theoretical goal for success (e.g., zero defects in care), Ontario will continually strive for progress towards that goal.

From a health system standpoint:

• We have strong leadership for quality throughout our system. Leaders, governors and policymakers identify priorities and targets for improvement, assign accountability for results, allocate resources, and set policies to support improvement efforts.
• We have the capacity, skills and culture for quality improvement throughout the healthcare workforce. We have effective quality improvement teams that use quality improvement tools to achieve system change. Clinician champions continually promote the cause of quality improvement. Teams have an infrastructure for sharing their experiences regarding the implementation of leading practices.
• We have a state-of-the-art quality measurement system. Our healthcare system has information technology, data collection systems and standardized measures that allow us to report and feed back timely information to those managing and assisting in quality improvement.
• There is broad accountability and transparency throughout the system. Frontline providers, managers and policymakers recognize that citizens have a right to be informed about the quality of their healthcare system and that information about the quality of healthcare can encourage quality improvement through the identification of leading practices as well as opportunities for improvement.
• The health system is working to prevent sickness and improve the health of the people of Ontario.

Values

The following values guide Health Quality Ontario’s activities:

1. Passionate about quality improvement. Internally, we embrace quality improvement methodologies and skills. We continually learn and innovate. We have an irrepressible drive towards excellence.
2. Objective and guided by evidence. We set high standards for the scientific validity and reliability of the information which we generate and promote. As a result, the public and the healthcare system view us as a highly credible source of information.
3. Public involvement. Through various techniques, we seek the public’s ideas and concerns about the quality of Ontario’s health system. In turn, we inform the public to help them engage fully in improving their health and the health system.
4. Health system partnerships. We work closely with and leverage the strengths of different parts of the healthcare system to get the best possible health information to report to the public and to support quality improvement.
5. Embracing diversity. We interact with the public and the healthcare system in ways that recognize, respond to, and allow us to learn from the rich diversity of our province. Our composition as an organization reflects that diversity.