Shared Health Priorities
Federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments are coming together to establish Canada’s shared health priorities and address common challenges and gaps in care. Through collaboration, CIHI, FPT governments, data partners and other relevant stakeholders will leverage their respective strengths and expertise to achieve greater impact and effectiveness in addressing emerging and existing health care issues that impact Canadians.
Common indicators to improve health care for Canadians (2023)
As announced in 2023,Reference1 CIHI is working with FPT governmentsFootnotei and stakeholders to measure improvements in shared health priority areas of our health systems: primary health care; health workforce and surgeries; mental health and substance use; electronic health information; and aging with dignity. The governments have committed to work with CIHI to collect, share and learn from health information in these shared priority areas to improve health care in Canada.

Taking the pulse, 2024
A report for Canadians on measuring shared health priorities across provinces and territories.
Measuring access to priority health services (2017)
In 2017,Reference2 CIHI started working with FPT governmentsFootnoteii and stakeholders to measure improvements in the shared health priority areas of access to services for mental health and substance use, and home and community care.
Shared Health Priorities Advisory Council
The Shared Health Priorities Advisory Council provides strategic guidance on indicator development in order to represent jurisdictional interests and support messaging and outreach. Council members include representatives from provinces, territories, Health Canada, Statistics Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and CIHI.
CIHI’s role
We have long-standing programs of work that measure health system performance. Given our experience, CIHI is well-positioned to facilitate the selection and development of indicators to measure priority areas of our health systems.
This work aligns with our mandate to deliver comparable and actionable information that will accelerate improvements in health care, the performance of health systems and the overall health of the population.
Related resources
- How is an indicator developed?
- Indicator library (learn about the definitions and methodologies for the indicators)
- Health system performance measurement
- Working with patients and families
Contact us
If you have any questions or would like more information, email
Footnotes
i.
On March 27, 2024, Quebec signed the Canada–Quebec Agreement on Federal Funding to Support Quebec’s Health Priorities. Efforts relating to this agreement are currently underway and data from Quebec will be integrated into future reports.
ii.
The federal government agreed to an asymmetrical arrangement with Quebec, distinct from the Common Statement of Principles.
References
1.
Health Canada. Working together to improve health care in Canada: Overview. Accessed June 28, 2024.
2.
Government of Canada. A Common Statement of Principles on Shared Health Priorities (PDF). 2017.
How to cite:
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Shared Health Priorities. Accessed April 25, 2025.

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