Our Story

We have worked shoulder-to-shoulder to improve health and care for everyone in Canada since 1996. What that has looked like has changed significantly over the years. After all, when continuous improvement is at the core of who you are and what you do, the status quo is never a long-term option. So, although the ending has stayed the same, our story continues to be written. We’re excited to have you join us as we make change happen.

Born from collaboration to be collaborative: how it all started

We were originally created as the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF). Our first mandate was to support evidence-informed decision-making, management and delivery of health services through funding research, capacity building and knowledge transfer. Over time and as the healthcare landscape shifted, we began to explore where next to focus our efforts. Working with our stakeholders, it became clear that it was time to embrace a new challenge: spreading evidence-informed healthcare innovations in a country that had been described as a land of “perpetual pilot projects.”1

going in a new direction…

New strategic priorities were established in 2009, a new vision and mission took effect in 2011, and new goals were set in 2012. That same year, we changed our name to the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement to better reflect our evolution to an organization focused on the identification, spread and scale of proven healthcare innovations.

...by following the same way

Making these changes was not simple. But it simply had to be done. We needed to focus our efforts where we could have the greatest impact. More improvement, with and for more people. That lasts. Despite the work involved in forming a ‘new’ organization, we never questioned that we would deliver on this new mandate just as we did on our original one. Because although much had changed, what would – and will always—remain the same is the core that makes us who we are: collaboration.

Collaboration is how we started, how we became CFHI and is how we will continue to evolve to meet the most pressing needs of the healthcare system in Canada.

The next chapter

Improvement isn’t just what we do, it is who we are.

As our next chapter unfolds, our spirit of collaborating to build genuine relationships that create authentic partnerships that lead to evidence-informed solutions, will remain. We have never been—and will never be—a static organization, tied to a name or a logo, that tweaks around the edges. Instead, our team of dedicated staff, coaches, faculty and partners will work together to embrace change and continue to evolve—just as the Canadian healthcare story does.

After all, if we are not willing to change, how can we expect entire systems to?