Renewed definition of healthcare quality helps guide system improvement

CALGARY, AB, July 16, 2025 /CNW/ - Alberta has a renewed, evidence-based definition for healthcare quality released today by Health Quality Alberta, marking the first update to this important concept in nearly 20 years. The definition includes seven dimensions of quality: people-centred, accessible and timely, safe, integrated, equitable, effective, and efficient and sustainable. This new publication, Alberta Quality Dimensions for Health, updates and replaces one of Health Quality Alberta's most accessed resources: the Alberta Quality Matrix for Health.

"How we define quality healthcare is the very foundation of everything else we do in planning and delivering healthcare services," says Dr. David Zygun, acting chief executive officer of Health Quality Alberta. "The definition of quality serves as a starting point, guiding decision-making and delivery of care. When people agree on what quality care looks like, they are more likely to be aligned on how to fund, plan, measure, and deliver quality, integrated care across the system."

The new dimensions replace the definition of quality that was first introduced with the Alberta Quality Matrix for Health in 2005. Important changes include adding the dimensions of people-centred and equitable, for example, and expanding the meaning of safe care to include all forms of safety – not just physical, but also cultural and data-related, to name two forms.

The dimensions can be applied at system, organizational, and care-delivery levels, informing policy, strategy, and design for the healthcare system. They give organizations and teams a common language that shifts their thinking and practice toward integrated people-centred care.

This update brings together input from system partners across Alberta, patient advisors, and communities, along with insights from leading frameworks in use within and beyond Alberta and Canada.

"As our name shows, we are in the business of health quality," says Dr. Zygun. "I'm pleased we can provide this important update to our health system partners. This establishes a benchmark for quality and a common language to support quality improvement."

The new resource – Alberta Quality Dimensions for Health – can be downloaded from Health Quality Alberta's website.

SOURCE Health Quality Alberta

For more information: Lisa Brake, Executive Director, Communications & Engagement, Health Quality Alberta, 403.875.0359, [email protected]