Public health and healthcare system collaboration to achieve the Quadruple Aim and build Learning Health Systems

While the Quadruple Aim consists of goals for healthcare systems, public health shares the goal of improving the health of populations. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, this is a key time to examine how public health and healthcare systems collaborate to improve population health and build Learning Health Systems. In this knowledge synthesis project, we will conduct a scoping review of the literature on the role of public health in achieving the Quadruple Aim and identify a set of national and international examples that illustrate how collaboration can happen. We will also conduct a national deliberative dialogue, engaging leaders in public health, healthcare system leaders responsible for population health improvement, and policymakers grounded in the shared vision of a Learning Health System. In this multi-part dialogue, we will explore a series of questions: How does the Quadruple Aim fit with public health goals? What are the needs, goals and concerns of public health professionals and organizations? How can population health data support both the Quadruple Aim and public health system performance? What resources are required to enable collaboration and the Learning Health System? This builds on our recent work funded by CIHR to examine public health systems in each province and territory, and past work on Learning Health Systems. This project is a collaboration with knowledge users and the academics who lead the Upstream Lab, the Population Health Analytics Lab and the North American Observatory on Health Systems. The impact of this work will include a detailed understanding of the role of public health systems in achieving the Quadruple Aim and a model of the Learning Health System that includes public health. Our findings will lay the foundation for adequate supports for public health to play this role in Canada, and future research that implements and evaluates this vision.