What are the requirements of PPIP?
The Physician Practice Improvement Program (PPIP) consists of one personal development and two quality improvement (QI) activities. Regulated members must complete each of the three PPIP activities at least once over a five-year, continuous cycle:
- A practice-driven QI activity
- A CPSA standards of practice QI activity
- A personal development activity
Each PPIP activity has specific requirements:
- The use of data
- An action plan
- Facilitation (recommended for all three but only mandatory for the personal development activity)
PPIP activities can be done on an individual or group basis—we encourage physicians to choose activities that are important and meaningful to their individual practice.
When does my five-year PPIP cycle end?
Your PPIP cycle ends when your current continuing professional development (CPD) cycle ends.
To ease the reporting burden, your PPIP cycle aligns with your CPD cycle through the College of Family Physicians for Family Physicians or the Royal College Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. If you are unsure of when your current CPD cycle ends, please contact your national college.
How do I tell CPSA I’ve completed my PPIP activities?
Physicians self-report their PPIP activities and CPD cycles in the annual CPSA Renewal Information Form (RIF). Annual PPIP Reports capturing your self-reported information will be uploaded to your CPSA Portal every fall, prior to the launch of annual renewal.
Why PPIP?
Through PPIP, CPSA wants to enable learning, foster reflection and empower change within the profession, with the ultimate goals of enhancing the patient experience, improving population health, increasing value and quality of care, and improving work/life balance for healthcare workers.
The history of PPIP and quality improvement at CPSA
PPIP was launched on Jan. 1, 2021, to fulfill CPSA’s legislated mandate of ensuring competence within the profession.
CPSA regulated members who are on a general register must participate in PPIP. Those on a provisional, limited, telemedicine or physician assistant register may be required to participate in PPIP in accordance with requirements outlined in our Continuing Competence Program Manual.
Involvement in competence activities such as PPIP is mandatory under part 3, section 50 of the Health Professions Act (HPA) and CPSA’s Continuing Competence standard of practice (SoP), under general assessment of members.
Participation in any competence program is completely confidential under section 52 of the HPA.
Practice Improvement News (as seen in The Messenger)
- Complete a PPIP activity, help combat antimicrobial resistance, or both! (May 2024)
- A dynamic duo: PPIP and CPSA’s Standards of Practice (May 2024)
- Medical Matters: Quality improvement at CPSA (April 2024)
- What do PPIP and MD Snapshot-Prescribing have in common? We’ll tell you! (February 2024)
- My Lifelong Learning Plan: a free, accredited online tool that supports practice improvement (September 2023)
- A new practice improvement tool for Alberta physicians (June 2023)
- Quality improvement in the busy physician’s practice: Nuisance or necessity? (May 2023)
- How big does a PPIP activity have to be? (April 2023)
- Streamlining practice improvement (January 2023)
- Panicked about PPIP? We can help (December 2022)
- Claim CME credits and start a PPIP activity by reviewing your latest MD Snapshot-Prescribing (November 2022)
- Completed a practice improvement activity in the last 12 months? Report it on your annual renewal! (October 2022)
- Work you’re doing already, with a few extra steps (August 2022)
- Physician Practice Improvement Program (PPIP): where do CPSA’s Standards of Practice fit in? (July 2022)
- Improved patient care, one activity at a time (June 2022)
- Complete a PPIP requirement with Group Practice Review (May 2021)
- From HQCA: new family physician data available (April 2021)
- Enable learning, foster reflection, empower change (February 2021)
- For One Clinic, Honest Communication And Teamwork Means Improved Patient Care (December 2020)
- Physician Practice Improvement– By The Numbers (December 2020)
- What’s New in Continuing Competence? (November 2020)
- How Physicians Approach QI Is Changing—Get A Head Start (October 2020)
- Physician practice improvement: join the evolution (August 2020)
- Competence Corner: Introducing the Physician Practice Improvement Program (June 2020)
- Improving Patient Access and Preventative Care (January 2020)
- The Effects of Practice Data on Patient Outcomes (December 2019)
- The evolution of quality improvement in health care (October 2019)
- The methodology behind quality improvement (November 2019)
- Practice improvement and professional development (February 2019)
PPIP video series
Watch our videos to find out more about CPSA’s cornerstone quality improvement program, the three activities that make up PPIP’s five-year cycle, how to implement the requirements of a PPIP activity and more!
An overview of PPIP (3:36 minutes)
The Why: Evolution and principles of PPIP (10:50 minutes)
The What: Components of PPIP (7:55 minutes)
The How: Implementing the requirements of PPIP (16:42 minutes)
FAQs about PPIP
All FAQsWhen does my five-year PPIP cycle end?
Your PPIP cycle is aligned with your continuing professional development cycle through the College of Family Physicians for Family Physicians or the Royal College Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. If you are unsure of when your current CPD cycle ends, please contact your national college.
How do I report My PPIP activity?
There are questions in CPSA’s Renewal Information Form (RIF) about PPIP, through which physicians self-report their participation in PPIP activities.
Do I need to submit proof that I completed a PPIP activity?
Physicians are not required to submit proof of all their activities to CPSA, but you may be asked to confirm the self-reported information from your RIF, so we ask that you retain your action plans and any documentation about your PPIP activities for a period of six years.
What is Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)?
According to FMRAC’s statement on physician continuous quality improvement:
“Patients deserve and expect the best possible care from their physicians, and all licensed physicians in Canada must be able to demonstrate that they are sustaining and enhancing their competence throughout their careers.”
Read the full statement here.
What is personal development?
Reflecting on our strengths and identifying opportunities for change is the first step towards making personal improvements. When we are our best selves, we’re in a better position to help others.
Find out more about the three PPIP activities
Questions about PPIP?
Phone: 780-969-4986
Toll-free: 1-800-561-3899 ext. 4986 (in Canada)
Interested in a presentation on PPIP?
Please submit a Speaker Request form.