Agenda
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All times are in EST
Day 1: Thursday, November 30, 2023
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Registration and light breakfast
9:00 AM - 9:05 AM
Welcoming remarks and orientation to the meeting
Andrew Pinto, MD MSc
Dr. Pinto is the Director of the Upstream Lab and holds a CIHR Applied Public Health Chair in Upstream Prevention in Primary Healthcare.
Research interests: Social determinants of health, population health management, data science to enable Learning Health Systems
9:05 AM - 9:15 AM
10 facets of the crisis in access to primary care
Mélanie Ann Smithman, PhD
Dr. Mélanie Ann Smithman is a postdoctoral researcher at the Upstream Lab in Ontario, a primary care access quality improvement coach at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec and part of the primary care innovations working group at the Quebec College of Family Physicians.
Research interests: building scale-up-ready primary care systems, open and social innovations for primary care access, equity and resilience, driving primary care change through implementation science/practice and quality improvement, rapid research methods for timely and impactful evidence, strategic foresight in policy making
9:15 AM - 9:45 AM
Opening keynote
Jane Philpott, MD MPH
Dr. Philpott is a former Member of Parliament and served as the federal Minister of Health. She is currently Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Director, School of Medicine at Queen’s University.
9:45 AM - 10:15 AM
Building solutions to improve access to primary care for Indigenous communities
Allie Kinnaird, BA
Allie Kinnaird is the Director of Policy & Government Relations at the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Ontario Medical Association Section on General & Family Practice (SGFP).
Suzanne Shoush, MD
Dr. Suzanne Shoush is a First Nations/Black (St’atl’imx and Sudanese) physician, mother and advocate. She has spent more than a decade providing healthcare in Toronto’s shelter systems and in rural and remote communities across Ontario. She is the Indigenous Health faculty-lead with the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine, and the Director of Indigenous Health for Inner City Health Associates. She is the lead physician of several culture based, trauma informed, culturally safe and low barrier comprehensive primary care clinics including Auduzhe Mino Nesewinong, Call Auntie Clinic, and Odeimin Clinics. She is a long term member of the Unity Health FNIM Community Advisory Panel and inaugural Lead Physician for Office of Indigenous Wellness, Reconciliation and Partnerships at Unity Health Toronto.
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Panel 1: Overview of the primary care crisis - what are the dangers of business as usual?
Rick Glazier, MD MPH
Dr. Glazier is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research.
Research interests: Evaluating health system transformation, primary care health services delivery models, health of disadvantaged populations, management of chronic conditions, and population-based and geographic methods for improving equity in health
Yukon: Jessica Murphy, MSW BSN
New Brunswick: Penny Higdon, BSc BNRN
Dr. Isabel is a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Pinto at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. His project explores the role of peer-support initiatives in improving access to primary care for people experiencing homelessness.
He is also a family physician at a community-based family medicine teaching unit and family health team in Montreal and an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Université de Montréal Department of Family and Emergency Medicine.
Tara Kiran, MD MSc
Notisha Massaquoi, MSW, PhD
Dr. Massaquoi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Director of the Black Health Equity Lab. She established the primary care programs and was the Executive Director of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre.
Research interests: Impact of anti-Black racism on Black communities in Canada, health equity, racial health disparities, critical health theory
Andrew Boozary, MD MPP
Dr. Boozary is the Executive Director of Population Health and Social Medicine at the University Health Network and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation.
Research interests: Health policy, social justice, and equitable health care delivery to improve health outcomes for marginalized populations
Moderator: Mélanie Ann Smithman, PhD
Dr. Mélanie Ann Smithman is a postdoctoral researcher at the Upstream Lab in Ontario, a primary care access quality improvement coach at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec and part of the primary care innovations working group at the Quebec College of Family Physicians.
Panel 2: Provincial and territorial perspectives on solutions
11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Quebec: Maxine Dumas-Pilon, MD CCMF FCMF
Dr. Dumas Pilon is a family physician, co-founder of the Indigo Clinic in Montreal, Québec, and an assistant professor in the department of Family Medicine at McGill University. She taught at St-Mary’s family medicine teaching unit for fifteen years.
She has led many initiatives related to obstetrical care, access and innovation with different organizations including the Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux (MSSS), the Canadian Foundation for health improvement, and the Quebec College of Family Physicians of which she has been the president from 2014 to 2017. She now works as a medical advisor for the MSSS.
Nova Scotia: Lynn (Carolyn) Edwards, BScNut, MHSA, EXTRA Fellow, CHE
Lynn Edwards is the Senior Director for the Access and Flow Network and the Frailty and Elder Care Network for Nova Scotia Health. Prior to this, Lynn was Senior Director of Primary Health Care, Family Practice and Chronic Disease with the Nova Scotia Health Authority and led the development of a provincial vision and plan for the primary health care system during the transition to one health authority.
Lynn has had the opportunity to work in both rural and urban Nova Scotia as both a health administrator and as a clinical dietitian working in a variety of inter-professional collaborative teams. She has worked at the provincial Department of Health in primary care and as Director of Acute Care.
Jessica Murphy is the Acting Director of Integrated Health Services for the Government of Yukon, located on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation and the Ta’an Kwach’an Council. Jessica’s portfolio in her current role includes a Chronic Conditions Support Program, a bilingual primary health care clinic, the Yukon Midwifery Program, and the development of the new Whitehorse Walk-in-Clinic.
Jessica has spent most of her career working in mental health, first as a frontline nurse and then in a variety of leadership roles. Her roles have included Supervisor of the Psychiatric Outreach Program and the Manager of Health Services with the Mental Wellness and Substance Use Services branch. Jessica had an integral role in the implementation of Whitehorse’s first Supervised Consumption Site and the development of a Mobile Crisis Team.
Penny Higdon is the Director of Strategy and Innovation with the Primary Health Care Branch at the Department of Health, Government of New Brunswick. Most recently, during the pandemic, she was the Director of the provincial COVID response team at the Department of Health and has been highly involved in the policy and program direction for the current Primary Care Transformation in New Brunswick.
Penny has a background in Nursing and has spent 30 years working in a variety of roles, from front line (acute care, home care, community health, and public health) to leadership roles including management, policy and program development.
Moderator: Mathieu Isabel, MD MA
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM
Lunch break (lunch will be provided)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Patient and public recommendations for a better primary care system
Dr. Kiran is the Fidani Chair of Improvement and Innovation at the University of Toronto, and Vice Chair for Quality and Innovation in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. She is the lead for OurCare, a national initiative to engage the public in co-creating the blueprint for a stronger, more equitable primary care system in Canada.
Research interests: How primary care reforms impact quality of care, and initiatives to measure and reduce care disparities, engage patients in health service improvement, and support physicians to learn from data
Neb Kovacina, MDCM CCFP MHSc
Dr. Kovacina is a family physician at St Mary's Hospital Academic Family Medicine Group, in Montreal, and the Quality Improvement program director at the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University. He is the clinical director of Health Quality Academy and a member of the Quality Improvement Advisory Table of Quebec's Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Sandra Epp
Sandra is a Project Analyst / Quality Assurance Specialist at Shared Health | Shared Services in Manitoba, responsible for leading and testing software deployment in a variety of acute care settings.
Her focus for this purpose is driven more, however, by her experiences as a mother to two teenagers who have required significant care from the primary and acute care systems in Manitoba over the past 5 years Their struggles to secure adequate care, in a timely manner, drove her desire to become involved in patient engagement and feedback mechanisms. It is her desire that her shared experiences as a mother, and care provider for two aging parents, can be used to help improve the care experienced by others in similar situations.
Panel 3: Tackling the crisis in primary care while building an upstream health system
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Emily Marshall, PhD
Dr. Marshall is a Professor at Dalhousie University and lead for the CIHR funded PUPPY Study - Problems Coordinating and Accessing Primary Care for Attached and Unattached Patients Exacerbated During the COVID-19 Pandemic Year.
Research interests: Improved population health, improved patient experiences, provider and team well-being, cost optimization; access, continuity, and comprehensiveness to improve equity and optimize outcomes, involving population data and vulnerable populations
Michael Green, MD MPH
Dr. Green is a Professor and Brian Hennen Chair and Head of the Department of Family Medicine at Queen’s University. He is also a Senior Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Dr. Green is the incoming President of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
Dr. Breton is an Associate Professor at the Université de Sherbrooke and holds a Canada Research Chair in Clinical Governance on Primary Health Care.
Research interests: Innovations to improve access to primary care and health services, primary health care policies, health systems management
Mylaine Breton, PhD MBA
Beth Cowper-Fung, NP-PHC MN
Beth Cowper-Fung is the Clinic Director / Lead Nurse Practitioner for the Georgina Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic in Sutton Ontario since 2011. Beth is a member of the Joint Executive Steering Committee of the Southlake Community Ontario Health Team as well as a member of the Primary Care Council.
Beth is also member of the Ontario Health: Primary Care Quality Advisory Committee and the Ministry of Health: Provincial Primary Care Advisory Table. Beth is currently on the Executive of the Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic Association supporting 25 NPLCs across the province.
Moderator: Jane Zhao, MSc
Jane Zhao is a Health Policy PhD student at the University of Toronto, supervised by Dr. Andrew Pinto. Building on nine years of embedded health services research, their interests lie at the intersection of primary care, team-based care, and health systems research. Their thesis aims to characterize successful components of interprofessional, primary care teams in high-income countries.
Talk to them about Dorothy Smith, comics, and sustainability.
Break into provincial and territorial Working Groups
3:00 PM - 3:15 PM
3:15 PM - 5:00 PM
Working Group Session 1: Provincial and territorial meetings
An opportunity for provinces and territories in attendance to:
Discuss key take-aways from the plenary sessions
Review and build upon existing provincial/territorial work
Identify a set of key actions for their province/territory
In-person locations will be:
Ontario: University Room
Quebec: Terrace Room North
Alberta: Terrace Room West
Nova Scotia: Terrace Room East
New Brunswick: St. Lawrence Room
British Columbia: St. Andrew Room
We have virtual options for this session for those who are unable to attend in person.
Day 2: Friday, December 1, 2023
Check-in, light breakfast, networking
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
9:00 AM - 9:05 AM
Brief welcome and recap
Working Group Session 2: Solutions streams
9:05 - 9:40 AM Session 2A: Primary Care Workforce and Solutions
9:45 - 10:20 AM Session 2B: Financing and Funding
10:25 - 11:00 AM Session 2C: Leveraging Data, New Tools, and AI to Address the Crisis
9:05 AM - 11:00 AM
Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, PhD
Dr. Bourgeault is a Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa and the University Research Chair in Gender, Diversity and the Professions. She leads the Canadian Health Workforce Network, the Empowering Women Leaders in Health initiative and co-leads the Team Primary Care: Training for Transformation project.
Session 2A: Primary Care Workforce and Solutions. Her work focuses on her research on the health workforce, particularly from a gender lens.
Audrey Laporte, PhD
Dr. Laporte is Director of the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, where she is Professor of Health Economics. She is also Director of the Canadian Centre of Health Economics and President of the International Health Economics Association.
Session 2B: Financing and Funding. Her work focuses on dynamic microeconomic theory and the application of econometric methods to address questions related to health policy; modelling of individual health capital accumulation and addictive behaviours; health human resource modelling; and modelling the impact of policy changes on the performance of health care organizations.
Carolyn Steele Gray, PhD
Dr. Steele Gray holds a Canada Research Chair in Implementing Digital Health Innovation. She is a Scientist at the Science of Care Institute and in the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health, and is an Associate Professor in the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.
Session 2C: Leveraging Data, New Tools, and AI to Address the Crisis. Her work focuses on the role of digital health in supporting integrated and person-centred care delivery for patients with complex care needs, applying implementation science theory and approaches, along with evaluation methods to uncover to how best to integrate technology in novel delivery models.
Break
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM
Closing keynote
11:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Danielle Martin, MD MPP DSc
Dr. Martin is the Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Professor at the University of Toronto. She is a clinician and teacher at Women’s College Hospital, where she was the former Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Executive.
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM
High-level summaries and next steps
2023 Annual Meeting of the CIHR Applied Public Health Chairs (invitation only).