What is practice improvement?
Part of good medical practice is a commitment to lifelong learning.
At CPSA, we are committed to empowering physicians in their journey of professional growth and personal development. We know many factors contribute to physician health and productivity, and paying attention to these factors is an important part of providing patients with quality care.
Our goal is to support physicians by ensuring they have the support, tools and resources needed to perform their best. By fostering a culture of learning and optimized patient care, we all benefit and the health and wellbeing of all Albertans—patients and physicians—is elevated.
The evolution of practice improvement
The Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada (FMRAC) supports a physician’s continuous quality improvement, based around the CanMEDS roles (medical expert, communicator, collaborator, leader, health advocate, scholar and professional).
FMRAC’s system for practice improvement (pictured to the left) was developed with the understanding that each physician has a unique practice and therefore unique learning needs.
Enhancing how we support physicians in providing quality patient care
CPSA’s Physician Practice Improvement Program (PPIP) supports physicians in accessing resources and knowledge to incorporate continuous quality improvement into their practice, thereby fostering a quality culture for Alberta physicians. Recognizing that personal factors and system stressors can influence performance, this program also focuses on a physician’s personal development.
We hope this approach will empower physicians to “shift the curve” and continually strive for small changes that can make a difference, both personally and professionally, in pursuit of providing the best care for Albertans.
PPIP was launched by CPSA on Jan. 1, 2021, to fulfill its legislated mandate of ensuring competence within the profession. All of CPSA’s regulated members must participate in PPIP.
Involvement in competence activities is mandated under part 3, section 50 of the Health Professions Act. Participation in any Continuing Competence program is completely confidential under sections 52 of the Health Professions Act.
PPIP cycle: improvement over a 5-year period
To meet the requirements of PPIP, physicians will need to incorporate each of the following three activities into their practice at least once over a five-year cycle:
- A practice-driven quality improvement (QI) activity using objective data
- A CPSA Standards of Practice quality improvement activity
- A personal development activity
Physicians must report their participation in these activities in the PPIP section of CPSA’s Renewal Information Form (RIF). You may be asked to verify your involvement, so be sure to retain your action plans and any documentation about your activities for a period of six years.
Please be aware that PPIP activities will generally qualify for CPD credits—contact your national college for more information.
PPIP video series
Watch this brief video for an overview of PPIP
Want to dig a little deeper? Find out more about the why, what and how of PPIP
The Why: Evolution and principles of PPIP
The What: Components of PPIP
The How: Implementing the requirements of PPIP
Find out more about PPIP, its requirements and how we can help you on your practice improvement journey
Practice improvement resources
Programs and organizations listed are possible avenues to completion of a PPIP activity. Please note that the list of resources is not exhaustive and if you are aware of additional resources, please let us know.
Practice improvement cycle information |
Quality improvement tools & resources |
Personal development tools & resources |
Standards of practice tools & resources |
Practice improvement programs & courses |
Quality improvement articles |
CPSA's PPIP Tools
Practice Improvement News (as seen in The Messenger)
- 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)
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.