Recently formed from the merger of two of the nation’s most well-established and prominent healthcare organisations, HealthCareCAN has set itself up as Canada’s national voice for healthcare. President and CEO Bill Tholl has a grand vision for the association; he sees it as a means by which to unite Canada’s health systems and re-establish the nation as an international leader in healthcare. With the organisation currently developing its strategic plan, Tholl gave International Innovation an insight

into the activities that are already underway to make this vision a reality

Bill Tholl Founding President and CEO, HealthCareCAN

ANALYSIS: EXCLUSIVE

WWW.INTERNATIONALINNOVATION.COM 77

HealthCareCAN formed following the merger of the Canadian Healthcare Association (CHA) and the Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations (ACAHO) earlier this year. What are the advantages of uniting as one entity?

This past year has been quite exciting for our Board of Directors and staff as we brought two organisations into one to form HealthCareCAN on 1 January. CHA has been around for over 85 years while ACAHO has undertaken more than 40 years of service to academic health science centres. These organisations have made an indelible mark on the health research landscape, and we are building on the legacy of both.

What is your personal background, and how did it lead to your current position? What inspires you in your work?

Initially trained as a health economist, over the past 35 years I have been fortunate to be involved in some of the most exciting advances in Canadian healthcare policy. I have had an opportunity to see the policy development processes up close while working within the public service. I’ve also enjoyed working with a number of NGOs to help develop and implement programmes that more directly affect the health of Canadians. I am committed to doing my part for Canada’s healthcare system by bringing the collective voice of healthcare organisations to the table.

Can you outline the vision of HealthCareCAN?

Our strategic plan is in development, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a vision or purpose. HealthCareCAN’s driving force is to build on the best of both organisations and serve as the unifi ed voice of healthcare organisations from across the country and over the full continuum of care. We are working to advance both organisational and health system performance through three key results areas: Science and Technology in Service of Health, Support for Service Excellence and Developing System Management Capacity.

Immediately after being appointed President and CEO, I engaged in a ‘90-day challenge’ to listen to the community, identify emerging needs and develop a new, more compelling value proposition. This also marked the beginning of a more inclusive way of working with our members and strategic partners. I heard from almost 200 healthcare leaders from coast to coast through in-person interviews, focus groups, a webinar and an online survey. We have distilled these insights into a draft strategic plan, which will be fi nalised along with a business plan by the Board of Directors in late October.

How involved is the organisation in infl uencing government healthcare policy in Canada?

One of the core functions of our association is to promote new thinking around how to anticipate and respond to key policy issues. We advocate on our own and also with a range of special purpose strategic alliances to help shape Federal Government policy, as well as undertaking joint work at the provincial and territorial level. Recently, this has involved working to encourage and support the joint efforts of the Council of the Federation, the Healthcare Innovation working group and the Naylor Innovation Panel set up by the federal Minister of Health, Rona Ambrose.

We regularly meet with governments to provide input to committees such as the Federal Standing Committees on Health and Finance. One

Each country has its own particular set of challenges when it comes to establishing effective health systems, and Canada is no exception. As a geographically large country with a relatively small population base, its strategy must address an incredibly disparate and diverse array of people in a coordinated fashion.

At present, however, this is not the case. Canada’s federal Minister of Health, Rona Ambrose, recently recognised the fact that the nation is lagging behind other industrialised countries in key health system performance metrics of access and quality. The decentralised system of health fi nancing and delivery combined with the shifting capacity of the provinces and territories to work together means that Canada is lacking a cohesive, unifi ed healthcare plan.

Despite this, there are many exemplars of Canadian innovation in healthcare and the nation certainly possesses huge potential. “One clear, solution-orientated voice is necessary,” states Bill Tholl, and with HealthCareCAN’s initiation, he believes it is up to the task.

“The time has come for Canada to step up our game and once again rank among the best performing healthcare systems in the world.”

CANADA: A UNIQUE HEALTHCARE PROPOSITION

ANALYSIS: EXCLUSIVE

78 INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION

of our co-chairs has been appointed to the Minister’s Advisory Panel on Healthcare Innovation.

Our efforts have resulted in some important policy successes. Just this year, the Federal Government acted on the concerns raised by Canada’s hospitals including community and research and their foundations by proposing amendments to the Excise Tax Act, aimed at providing an exemption to the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/ HST) on hospital parking for patients and visitors. Instead of collecting taxes, healthcare facilities can now use the funds to support research and patient care.

The organisation is committed to ‘developing capacity’; what does this mean in practice?

CHA Learning, our popular source of professional development programmes, develops the leadership and management capacity of health leaders specifi cally in the service of better health.

People are the core of our ever-evolving health system. CHA Learning has been providing high quality, cost-effective programmes for over 60 years and has graduated tens of thousands of managers and leaders. At every gathering of health leaders that I have attended, there is always an impressive group of CHA graduates in the room!

Via online learning, health leaders can access relevant, fl exible and adaptable programmes. In partnership and drawing on nationally renowned subject matter experts, we deliver ‘niche’ training found nowhere else such as the Canadian Patient Safety Offi cer Course and the Governance Development Program.

The bottom line is that if you are trying to manage change, you need to equip your teams with the contemporary tools to get it done.

The issue of mental health is a growing concern for medical practitioners and policy makers worldwide due in part to ageing populations. How are you aiming to tackle this problem?

This is a priority for our health system and for HealthCareCAN. By 2041, seniors will have the highest rate of mental illness in Canada.

We are collaborating with the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) to promote and spread innovations around mental health. Our Board of Directors unanimously endorsed The Mental Health Strategy for Canada, and it encourages members and all health system stakeholders to adopt and take action to implement the standard on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace – which includes settings where seniors live and receive care, such as home care and long-term care facilities. Canadians are living longer and future mental health strategies must address seniors living with mental illness and dementia.

Our August pre-budget brief to the federal fi nance committees called for a targeted Healthcare Innovation Fund over fi ve years that could include a National Action Plan for Dementia focused on frail elderly people. It also called for a continued 10-year mandate of MHCC with a doubling of its budget. Additionally, we are also a member of the Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health, and our strategic plan will include a priority focus on the frail elderly, including their mental health.

Innovation Sensation

In response to the complexity of healthcare challenges and the need to leverage key innovations, the organisation has launched a searchable database of more than 5,000 research and innovation stories. It features Canada’s leading healthcare organisations presented in a one-stop shop of headlines, grouped by impact.

www.healthcarecan.ca/st-in-service-of-health/special-initiatives/innovation-sensation

National Health Leadership Conference 15-16 June, 2015

Themed around ‘Driving a culture of engagement, innovation and improvement’, this conference calls upon health system leaders to rethink the status quo and challenges them to meaningfully change health system delivery for better outcomes for all Canadians.

www.nhlc-cnls.ca

Canadian Clinical Trials Coordinating Centre (CCTCC)

Formed in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, this new organisation will help attract research investment and improve the cost, quality and speed involved in undertaking clinical trials in Canada.

www.cctcc.ca

HEALTHCARECAN’S INITIATIVES

ANALYSIS: EXCLUSIVE

WWW.INTERNATIONALINNOVATION.COM 79

www.healthcarecan.ca @HealthCareCAN

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak affecting West Africa has now been declared a public health emergency of international concern. What role will Canada as a nation and HealthCareCAN be playing in combating the virus?

At this time, the risk of EVD in Canada remains extremely low; however, Canadian hospitals and healthcare organisations are well prepared for the possibility of a person with EVD arriving at their healthcare facility requiring appropriate medical care.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Canada is part of the global response to EVD and is helping by:

• Giving healthcare workers in Sierra Leone access to laboratory services in order to diagnose infection quickly

• Donating doses of Canada’s experimental vaccine to the World Health Organization (WHO)

• Donating extra funding to WHO and Médecins Sans Frontières to help reduce and contain the outbreak

HealthCareCAN is standing by to support our members as they make their crucial preparations. We have been communicating regularly with PHAC and are sharing the most recent information with our members. We have also assembled key resources around EVD, which can be accessed on our website at www.healthcarecan.ca/ebola.

What does the future hold for HealthCareCAN?

As our new name suggests, HealthCareCAN is aspirational, focusing on the power of positive thinking and building optimism for the future of the healthcare system. We embody what can be accomplished together by caring, sharing and helping one another. We are also focused on improving the health of Canadians. Our future action plans will deliver on our potential.

The bottom line is that we want to work to advance a high performing health system that provides Canadians with world-leading healthcare services. As we fi nalise our strategic plan and business plan, the sky truly is the limit!

HealthCareCAN is, by its very nature, a highly collaborative organisation. It works widely across all aspects of Canadian healthcare to ensure mutual support and sharing of experience and expertise. Some of the organisation’s partners include:

• Canadian College of Health Leaders – an organisation that co-sponsors the largest gathering of health leaders each year

• Health Action Lobby – an initiative that works together with over 40 other national organisations to urge governments to collaborate

• Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada – it advances the sustainability of health research through what has now become a must-attend annual symposium

• Health Care in Canada – the only multi-stakeholder survey of its kind in Canada that captures the insights of citizens, physicians, nurses, pharmacists and administrators on a variety of healthcare issues and fosters evidence-based policy/practice decisions

• Accreditation Canada and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute – these partnerships are allowing HealthCareCAN to take patient–centered care to another level

BETTERTOGETHER

ANALYSIS: EXCLUSIVE

80 INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION