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