POPLAR Blog

POPLAR recognizes the power of health data to improve our health system while also noting the potential for misuse of such data. For those who want to be more involved in shaping health data policy, POPLAR is highlighting a couple of recent federal and provincial announcements regarding health data and outlining opportunities for Canadians to help shape new health data laws and systems. Bill S-5, the Connected Care for Canadians Act On February 4, 2026, the federal governm

With one of POPLAR’s missions being to “enhance Ontarians’ experience of care,” patient perspectives on Ontario’s primary care system and broader ideas of what a good care experience looks like are essential. POPLAR, as a network of Practice-based Learning and Research Networks (PBLRNs), values opportunities to learn from patient partners. In terms of research, POPLAR respects guidelines put forth from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research which state that patients “..

Happy Spring to our POPLAR community! As the weather gets warmer and we see new growth around us, we are excited to announce that our first Data Sharing Agreement has been signed! Data are now on their way to ICES from the Queen’s Family Health Team in Kingston. Our data team is ready to process this information for the POPLAR Controlled Use Dataset. We would like to thank everyone involved at ICES, the Eastern Ontario Network (EON), and the Queen’s Family Health Team for the

The EPIC Learning Health System (French:ACTE) is a founding member network of POPLAR and belongs to the 117 organizations of the Alliance for Healthier Communities, a network of community health centres and similar organizations across Ontario, and have a shared goal of helping communities with greater needs to achieve better health outcomes. Although the Alliance began with Community Health Centres, it now includes several kinds of primary health care teams that support he

Welcome to the first POPLAR What's New Blog! POPLAR is a group of primary care practice-based learning and research networks from across Ontario. These networks are connected to different universities and organizations. If you want to learn more about the seven networks that make up POPLAR, you can visit our Networks webpage and our General Questions webpage. One of POPLAR’s main goals is to build a collection of primary care information from patients across Ontario. This i

The Eastern Ontario Network (EON) is the PBLRN based out of Queen’s University’s Department of Family Medicine and one of the founding seven networks forming POPLAR. EON is made up of over 150 primary care providers across Kingston and southeastern Ontario. Since 2008, EON has collected de-identified EMR data from approximately 250,000 patients for research and quality improvement projects. EON works closely with researchers, health care providers, patients, administrators, a

POPLAR is pleased to support a clinical research project led by Dr. Rahul Chanchlani at McMaster University. Below is a summary of Dr. Chanchlani’s project: High blood pressure (also known as hypertension) is becoming more common in children. If it isn’t caught early, it can lead to serious health problems like kidney or heart disease later in life. Currently in Canada, less than 1 in 4 children get their blood pressure checked by their doctor or nurses, even though national

Hello POPLAR Community! Photo by Lisa Crouch: Claire Wootten leading a Dancing With Parkinson's Class. My name is Claire Wootten, and I have been a POPLAR patient partner since 2023. I also recently joined the Community Council for UPLEARN––the University of Toronto’s Practice and Community-Based Learning And Research Network. As a life-long user of Canada’s healthcare system, I wanted to put my personal experience to effective use and have happily found that avenue through P