About us

The Change Foundation is an independent healthcare think tank, intent on changing the debate, the practice, and the healthcare experience in Ontario. We lead and leverage research, policy analysis, service redesign/quality improvement projects, and public engagement to achieve our strategic goal: to improve people’s healthcare experience as they move in, out of, and across the healthcare system over time.

Who is The Change Foundation?

We focus on the following five policy areas:

• Patient-Centred Healthcare
• Health System Reform
• Healthcare Quality
• Home and Community Care
• Community Engagement in Healthcare

Our History

The Change Foundation was established in 1996 as a charitable foundation through a one-time endowment provided by the Ontario Hospital Association. Since its inception, The Change Foundation has taken different approaches to ignite innovation and improve health and the delivery of quality healthcare in Ontario.

The “Old” Change Foundation

During its first decade, The Change Foundation operated largely as a granting agency supporting research and projects proposed by Ontario healthcare organizations.

The “New” Change Foundation: a shift in focus and function

In 2006, we decided to generate our own research and policy analysis, quality improvement projects, and informed discussion. We began to transform ourselves into a health policy think tank with a new look and outlook, expressed in our 2007-2010 strategic plan, Contemplating the way we change/Changing the way we think.

We posed our own pointed questions, including:

• How can we make Ontario’s healthcare system more integrated so it works better for people, whether they are in hospital, at home, or in the community — or moving from one service to another? What are the barriers and facilitators to integration?
• What role should and could the fledgling Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) play in that?
• What are patients and caregivers experiencing as they travel across the system? How can we improve the quality of that journey?

During the roll-out of the 2007-2010 strategic plan, we developed two signature events: Meeting of the Minds and Hot Talks on Health.  We also brought on a partner in July of 2008, creating The Centre for Healthcare Quality Improvement (CHQI) at The Change Foundation.  In April 2011, CHQI became part of the government’s newly consolidated provincial agency Health Quality Ontario.

The “New” Change Foundation: a tilt of view

The Change Foundation remains focused on supporting the creation of a more integrated user-friendly healthcare system in Ontario. But in our 2010-2013 strategic plan, Hearing the stories, changing the story, we are keeping our eyes fixed firmly on the prize: to improve the experience of people — patients, residents, family and friend caregivers – as they move in, out of, and across the healthcare system over time as their health changes.  We’ve developed a plan that identifies our target group – seniors with chronic health conditions and their family and friend caregivers – and outlines the activities we’ll undertake to acquire our goal. It’s called The Storyboard.