Continuum of care

Continuum of care kathschach

CIHI collects data across many sectors of care to build a pan-Canadian view of continuity of care. Data covering the continuum of care includes transitions and wait times from one health care sector to another. This includes continuity for a patient as they move across multiple and different care providers, procedures, care facilities and treatments. 

CIHI explains how different components of the health care system work together such as readmissions, rehabilitation, home care, long-term care and palliative care. CIHI also answers questions on topics such as how well and how often patients transition between services. 

Featured material

Connected care

CIHI is working with stakeholders to develop standards that enable connected care and health data interoperability in Canada.

Measuring access to priority health services

Explore the latest products related to new pan-Canadian indicators about access to home and community care and to mental health and substance use services.

Frailty among hospitalized seniors

Explore information and data related to the CIHI Hospital Frailty Risk Measure, an acute care contextual measure developed to characterize the risk of frailty among seniors.

Case mix

Case-mix grouping methodologies help health care facilities plan and manage their services.

Indicators

See all indicators

Continuum of care: Reports and releases

Continuum of care: Reports and releases kathschach

This page lists continuum of care reports, stories, infographics and release summaries.

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Wait times for priority procedures in Canada, 2024

Explore recent trends in volumes and wait times for hip and knee replacements, cataract and cancer surgeries, and diagnostic imaging at national and provincial levels.

Connected care

CIHI is working with stakeholders to develop standards that enable connected care and health data interoperability in Canada.

Shared Health Priorities

Working with the federal/provincial/territorial governments, CIHI is developing indicators to measure access to services for mental health and substance use, and home and community care.

Commonwealth Fund survey, 2022

​The 2022 Commonwealth Fund survey polled family doctors in Canada and 9 other developed countries and provides insight into the current gaps and improvements in primary care.

Access to care remains challenging

This infographic highlights how Canada compares with 9 other countries on access to care in the 2022 Commonwealth Fund survey of primary care physicians.

Continuum of care: Data tables

Continuum of care: Data tables kathschach

This page lists data tables that provide information about the continuum of care.

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Surgeries Impacted by COVID-19, March 2020 to September 2022 — Data Tables (XLSX)

​These data tables contain information on the estimated number of surgeries completed in Canada for 2 periods: pre-pandemic (January to December 2019) and pandemic (March 2020 to September 2022). Data is provided by age and surgery type at the national…

Continuum of care: Indicators

Continuum of care: Indicators kathschach

This page lists CIHI’s indicators related to the continuum of care.

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All Patients Readmitted to Hospital

This indicator measures the risk-adjusted rate of urgent readmissions within 30 days of discharge for episodes of care for several patient groups.

Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions

This indicator measures the age-standardized acute care hospitalization rate for conditions where appropriate ambulatory care prevents or reduces the need for admission to hospital.

Caregiver Distress

This indicator provides the percentage of long-stay home care clients whose unpaid caregivers experience distress in a 1-year period.

High Users of Hospital Beds

This indicator provides the risk-adjusted rate of patients who had 3 or more inpatient acute care hospitalizations with a cumulative length of stay (LOS) longer than 30 days (high users).

Continuum of care: Tools

Continuum of care: Tools kathschach

This page lists CIHI’s performance reporting tools that contain continuum of care data.

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Health Indicators e-Publication

Explore this large inventory of health indicators for regions and provinces/territories, which measure the health of Canadians and the performance of health systems. Jointly produced by Statistics Canada and CIHI.

Your Health System: In Brief

Your Health System: In Brief is an interactive health information tool that explores the five themes that Canadians told us were the most important.

Your Health System: In Depth

Explore Canadian health care and compare interactive data by hospital, long-term care organization, region and more

Your Health System: Insight

Your Health System: Insight is an analytical tool that allows health care providers and analysts to dig deeper into indicator results. Find out more about what Insight can offer, how to get access and the data refresh schedule.

Continuum of care: News and podcasts

Continuum of care: News and podcasts kathschach

This page contains media releases, bulletins and podcast episodes about the continuum of care.

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Frailty in Canada — Dr. Marcel Émond

In this episode of the CHIP, guest host Jeanie Lacroix speaks with Dr. Marcel Émond, certified emergency physician at the level-1 trauma centre of the CHU de Québec — Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus, about the risks of frailty.

Frailty in Canada — Dr. Kenneth Rockwood

On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, clinical research professor of frailty and aging at Dalhousie University, about the risks of frailty.

Palliative Care in Canada — Bernard Lapointe and Philippe Miquel

In this episode of the CHIP, host Alya Niang speaks with McGill University professor Bernard Lapointe and documentary filmmaker Philippe Miquel about the state of palliative care in Canada and why it is such a critical part of health care.

Palliative Care in Canada — Dr. Naheed Dosani

In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Naheed Dosani about the state of palliative care in Canada and why it is such a critical part of health care.

Virtual Care in Canada — Dr. Ewan Affleck

In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Ewan Affleck about the future of virtual care in Canada and why he is so passionate about continuing its growth.

Virtual Care in Canada — Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya

In this episode of the CHIP, host Alya Niang speaks with Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya about the future of virtual care in Canada and why he is so passionate about continuing its growth.

Surgical Wait Times in Canada — Dr. Etienne Belzile

In this episode of the CHIP, host Alya Niang speaks with Dr. Etienne Belzile about the causes of surgical backlogs in Canada and what could be done to fix the problems for the long term.

Continuum of care: Education resources

Continuum of care: Education resources kathschach

Through our Learning Centre, CIHI provides opportunities for health professionals to understand our evolving reporting systems and the application of our standards, data and analytics. We offer many courses and resources for a variety of audiences, including clinicians, assessors, data submitters and analysts, decision-makers, policy planners and researchers.

Courses and resources are available in a variety of formats, including eLearning modules, PDF and page-based documents, live and recorded web conferences, and videos.

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Browse our catalogues

With 300 learning products in a variety of areas, we’re sure to have something that meets your needs — and our online courses will always fit your schedule.

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Other education resources

Resources offered through CIHI include the following:

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Connected care — Video (Video)

This video explains what connected care is, how it will improve Canadians’ experiences with their health system and how CIHI is working with stakeholders to make this vision a reality.

Population Grouping Methodology in Action (PDF)

​​This information sheet highlights the main applications of CIHI’s population grouping methodology using chronic health conditions as an example.

Measuring Health Inequalities: A Toolkit — Intervention Scan Template (XLSX)

​This template may be used to organize information gathered through the 3 steps of the intervention scan process: 1) develop your search strategy; 2) document your search results; and 3) synthesize your results. A completed example is provided using a…

Seniors transitioning from home care to residential care

This video can help us better understand how Canada’s seniors transition from living independently to receiving continuing care services, and what factors influence their transition into residential care. 

Decision-Support Guide: CMG+

This product was developed to increase clients' ability to understand and use Case Mix Group+ (CMG+) grouping information and to address increasing demands for case mix understanding and direction on how to use case mix measures and products to inform…