Network for Integrated Care Excellence (NICE)

Many Canadians with complex health needs face a fragmented healthcare journey, moving between different providers and services without proper coordination. Integrated care offers a solution by better connecting and coordinating these services. As the Knowledge Mobilization and Impact Hub for the Transforming Health with Integrated Care (THINC) initiative, NICE connects researchers, decision-makers, healthcare providers, and people with lived experience who are working to advance integrated care. 

We bring together projects that are testing and evaluating models of integrated care across the country to understand what works and how successful approaches can be scaled. Funded by the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research (IHSPR), from 2024 to 2028 our work will focus on synthesizing and sharing knowledge from these integrated care projects to support implementation and improvement in care delivery. Our partnership with IFIC Canada and NACIC connects Canadian integrated care efforts with international experience and expertise, helping us learn from and contribute to global best practices.

Learning Community 
We're building a pan-Canadian community that connects researchers, healthcare providers, decision-makers, and people with lived experience across all THINC projects. Together, we foster shared learning, meaningful partnerships, and collaboration to advance integrated care.

Meaningful Engagement 
We create opportunities for genuine collaboration through learning communities, working groups, and knowledge exchange activities. Our engagement approach emphasizes co-design and shared decision-making to advance the Quintuple Aim of better patient experiences, outcomes, efficiency, provider satisfaction, and health equity.

Capacity Building 
We’re dedicated to building the skills and knowledge needed for integrated care. Through collaboration with THINC grantees and their partners, we provide targeted training and development opportunities that help both new and experienced professionals excel in areas like implementation science and patient-oriented research.

Knowledge Mobilization 
We help turn research into action by synthesizing and sharing the latest evidence and insights in integrated care. Our goal is to make healthcare innovations accessible and practical for everyone - from frontline practitioners to policy makers - through focused discussions, public engagement, and practical resources.

Collective Impact 
We drive collective impact by aligning efforts across THINC projects to achieve greater results together. By supporting shared measurement approaches, fostering collaboration, and using evidence to inform decision-making, we help partners work effectively toward transforming healthcare delivery.

Shared Governance 
Our leadership team brings together experts in science, knowledge mobilization, impact assessment, and community engagement. Our governance approach ensures that all activities are guided by clear leadership and inclusive engagement with THINC grantees.

The Transforming Health with Integrated Care (THINC) initiative, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is a national research program advancing integrated care across Canada. THINC aims to deepen our understanding of how to implement, evaluate, adapt, spread and scale evidence-informed integrated care policies and interventions that bridge the healthcare system with other sectors to improve continuity of care, address complex health needs, and promote equity.

The initiative includes four key components:

Impact
Our goal is to ensure the THINC initiative achieves more than its individual projects could accomplish alone. By fostering collaboration and sharing knowledge through our pan-Canadian learning community, we help to amplify the collective impact of these efforts, creating stronger, more integrated health systems across Canada.

Equity
Health equity is at the heart of everything we do. We actively work to ensure our initiatives benefit all communities, considering different needs, experiences, and circumstances. We're proud to support an Indigenous-led parallel community that brings cultural knowledge and Indigenous perspectives to integrated care and healthcare transformation.

Implementation
We use evidence-based approaches to turn promising healthcare ideas into real-world solutions. The Equity-Focused Implementation Research (EquIR) framework will help us guide the evaluation of key implementation outcomes. By carefully evaluating what works, what could work better, and who benefits, we help ensure that improvements in healthcare are both sustainable and accessible to everyone who needs them.

We are currently working on our hub offerings! Check back to learn more about the acitivites we have planned, which include: