Arthritis Society
The Arthritis Society is Canada's only not-for-profit organization devoted solely to funding and promoting arthritis research, programs and patient care. It has a national administrative office in Toronto, division offices in each province and nearly 1,000 community branches throughout Canada. Its mission is to search for the underlying causes and subsequent cures for arthritis and to promote the best possible care and treatment for people with arthritis.This website provides links to information on the types of arthritis, tips for living well, programs and resources, research, and resources for advocates. See also, the Ontario Division.

Canadian Association of Independent Living Centres (CAILC)
The Canadian Association of Independent Living Centres (CAILC) is the national umbrella organization for the network of Independent Living Resource Centres (ILRCs). CAILC's activities include the promotion and development of ILRCs, policies to strengthen and support the core programs offered at the ILRCs and partnerships with government and public and private sectors.The website includes links to information about disability organizations, related government information sources, policy research organization and other topics.

Canadian Association of Physical Medicine and Rehab
The Canadian Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation represents all physiatrists and physiatrists-in-training and strives to advance the practice of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Canadian Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (CARP)
CARP® is a national, member-focused association that supports the interdisciplinary nature of the rehabilitation field and supports professionals by providing a national infrastructure that unites members practicing a specialization within the rehabilitation continuum.

Members of CARP approved the Interdisciplinary Canadian Code of Ethics for Rehabilitation Professionals at their 2002 Annual General Meeting. Further information related to professionals in the rehabilitation field is found on this site including details on their annual national conferences, fellowship awards, the Registered Rehabilitation Professional (RRP) Designation, and continuing education.

Canadian Paraplegic Association (CPA)
The Canadian Paraplegic Association (CPA) was founded in 1945 by a group of paralyzed WWII veterans whose efforts resulted in improved medical and rehabilitation services, better pensions, and increased awareness of the abilities and potential of individuals with spinal cord injuries. Its mission is to assist persons with spinal cord injuries and other physical disabilities to achieve independence, self reliance and full community participation. The Canadian Paraplegic Association has divisions in all 10 provinces and 47 regional offices. This website provides information about resources, services, peer support, as well as a link to a comprehensive searchable weblink library.

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario is a community-based volunteer organization whose mission is to reduce the risk of premature death and disability from heart disease and stroke by raising funds for research and health promotion. The Foundation funds more than 60 percent of all the heart and stroke research in Canada - the largest single source of funds for peer-reviewed research in heart disease and stroke in Canada. A site search using the keyword “rehabilitation” will result in a number of documents released by the Heart and Stroke Foundation that are related to rehabilitation.

Ontario Home Health Care Provider’s Association (OHHCPA)
The Ontario Home Heath Care Provider’s Association is an organization of home health and social care service providers. OHHCPA members deliver nursing care, home support services, personal care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, social work, dietetics, speech language therapy and medical equipment in the home. OHHCPA members are contracted by all three levels of government, Community Care Access Centres (CCACs), insurance companies, institutions, corporations and private individuals. This site provides information about the delivery of home health care and includes access to publications and links to information related to the delivery of home health care and rehabilitation.

Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)
The Canadian Institute of Health Research is Canada's premier federal agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened health care system. This website includes information on funding for health research, databases of health information, research and funding, peer reviews, and strategic initiatives.

Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA)
The Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis is a department at McMaster University. Its work in health economics and health policy analysis includes the development and application of methods to evaluate the costs, risks, benefits and utility of specific health interventions and of alternative allocations of health resources. It is also involved in the analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of systems of organization, governance, financing, funding, and delivery of health services. A number of reports including those related to rehab can be found on this site. This site provides access to resources such as research activities, costing, utility, and related analysis that can be related to rehabilitation.

Institute for Rehabilitation Research and Development (IRRD)at The Rehabilitation Centre (Ottawa)
The Institute for Rehabilitation Research and Development was created to foster research, development, and networking activities with a focus on the clinical and practical application of rehabilitation services. Local IRRD objectives include coordinating research efforts at The Rehabilitation Centre and coordinating research-based conferences, seminars, and public lectures. Nationally, the IRRD promotes research networking, encourages information exchange, facilitates multi-centered research studies, and provides research consultation and project management. This site provides information on initiatives at these various levels and conference listings.

Ontario Rehabilitation Research Advisory Network (ORRAN)
The Ontario Rehabilitation Research Advisory Network was established in 2001 through Toronto Rehab to support the advancement of rehabilitation research in Ontario. The goal of the ORRAN is to establish a collaborative context to support and develop rehabilitation research initiatives across Ontario; to maximize rehabilitation research funding for Ontario; to expand the number of people conducting rehabilitation research; and to increase the exchange of rehabilitation research knowledge into practice, policy, and further research. This website includes information on registration to receive updates and information about rehabilitation research activities and funding in Ontario.

Quebec Rehabilitation Research Network
The Quebec Rehabilitation Research Network -- its official French name is RÉSEAU PROVINCIAL DE RECHERCHE EN ADAPATATION-RÉADAPTATION (REPAR) -- was created in June 1994. Its stated mission is “to contribute toward reducing or compensating for impairments, disabilities and handicap situations experienced by people with disabilities resulting from musculoskeletal, neurological and sensory impairments, through basic, clinical, evaluative and epidemiological research.” Its primary objective is to promote an optimal research infrastructure for multi-centre and multidisciplinary research.

Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network (TAHSN)
The Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network (formerly Toronto Academic Health Sciences Council) is a dynamic network of academic health organizations providing leading edge research, teaching and clinical care. TAHSN is one of the largest, most productive academic health centres in North America as evidenced in a number of dimensions (e.g., academic standing, research activity/output, contribution to innovation in healthcare, size of medical school, breadth of sub-specialty programs and size and diversity of population served).

Toronto Rehab
Toronto Rehab is the largest rehabilitation hospital in Canada. It is a teaching hospital fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, specializing in adult rehabilitation and complex continuing care. Its goal is to advance rehabilitation and enhance quality of life by pushing the frontiers of rehabilitation science. Working in partnership with Ontario's other academic rehabilitation centres and with financial support from the province, Toronto Rehab is leading the development of a provincial rehabilitation research program that will benefit people across Ontario and beyond.

University of Toronto (UofT) - Department of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation (HPME)
This site offers information on the Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (HPME) program at the University of Toronto. HPME offers a rich array of full-time and part-time graduate health services educational programs for managers, policy-makers, clinicians and researchers.

University of Toronto (UofT) - Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Sciences
Rehabilitation Science is the systematic study of the physical and psychosocial dimensions of human function throughout the lifespan of individuals with impairments, disabilities and/or handicaps. This site provides information on the programs offered through the Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Sciences.

Centre of Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA)
The Centre of Health Economics and Policy Analysis at McMaster University has several goals, including: to develop and apply methods to evaluate the costs, risks, benefits and utility of specific health interventions; to analyse and evaluate systems of organization, governance, financing, funding, and delivery of health services; to develop and apply methods for analysing the behaviour of the public, patients, providers and other decision makers in health systems; to develop, apply, and evaluate methods to convey health information; and to evaluate the role of health and social policy initiatives in addressing the determinants of population health.

GTA Rehab Network
The GTA Rehab Network is made up of publicly-funded hospital and community-based organizations from across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) that are involved in the planning and provision of rehabilitation services.

Hospital Reports
The Hospital Report Research Collaborative, led by the University of Toronto, has developed methods and reports on hospital performance in Ontario using the balanced scorecard format. Sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the Ontario Hospital Association, this work has resulted in one of the most comprehensive sets of performance measurement reports internationally.

• Reports on Rehabilitation
  The balanced scorecard describes a comprehensive performance measurement system for care provided by Ontario hospitals with beds designated for rehabilitation. The scorecard describes regional and peer group level performance in four quadrants, including system integration and change, clinical utilization and outcomes, client perspectives, and financial performance and condition. These reports on rehabilitation identify successes within the hospital system as well as important areas for quality improvement.

Joint Policy and Planning Committee (JPPC)
The Joint Policy and Planning Committee is a partnership between the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) and Ontario's Hospitals through the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA). Its role is to recommend and facilitate implementation of hospital reform within the context of the broader health care reform agenda. This website includes information on the Committee, its role in the funding formulae development, and reports describing funding tools related to rehabilitation, complex continuing care and so forth.

North Eastern Ontario Rehabilitation Network
The North Eastern Ontario Rehabilitation Network (NEORN) is comprised of representation from the five NEO hospitals with designated rehabilitation beds, the North East Community Care Access Centre, the Northeastern Ontario Stroke and ABI Networks and also includes a representative from the North East Local Health Integration Network. The NEORN is focused on advancing the vision of an integrated system for all rehabilitation diagnostic groups throughout the northeastern Ontario region.

Ontario Association of Community Care Access Centres (OACCAC)
The Ontario Association of Community Care Access Centres serves as a collective voice for the contribution made by CCACs to an integrated health care system. It provides leadership, inspiration and evidence-based outcomes in support of innovative and cost-effective community health care services. The website includes a CCAC locator, links to associations, government, best practices, position papers, and a listing of conferences and other upcoming events.

Ontario Hospital Association (OHA)
The Ontario Hospital Association is a voluntary organization representing approximately 160 public hospital corporations, or 225 sites, in Ontario. Among its members are all the public hospitals in Ontario as well as the province's psychiatric hospitals. Many other health-related organizations are among OHA's approximately 200 associate and affiliate members. The website provides information on the OHA and its annual conference, access to its members, as well as various initiatives such as the healthcare report cards.

Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)
The Canadian Institute for Health Information is an independent, not-for-profit organization that is working to: coordinate the development and maintenance of a comprehensive and integrated approach to health information for Canada; and to provide and coordinate the provision of accurate and timely data and information required for establishing sound health policy, effectively managing the Canadian health system, and generating public awareness about factors affecting good health.

The website provides access to information on: national health indicators; national health information standards; health databases and registries; special studies and research initiatives; various published reports on health information; as well as education sessions and conferences.

A few reports related to rehabilitation found on CIHI’s website include:

• National Rehabilitation Reporting System
• Inpatient Rehabilitation in Canada

Healthcare Quality Improvement Organizations

Centre for Healthcare Quality Improvement
Building on lessons from high performing healthcare systems around the world, the Centre for Healthcare Quality Improvement (CHQI) at The Change Foundation aims to assist organizations to achieve breakthrough results in quality outcomes in areas of provincial strategic priority. The Centre will accomplish this by: working with senior healthcare leaders to integrate quality as a core organizational business strategy, designing and coordinating large-scale improvement initiatives, building capability for improvement, and identifying policy barriers to improvement.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent not-for-profit organization helping to lead the improvement of health care throughout the world.  Founded in 1991 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, IHI works to accelerate improvement by building the will for change, cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care, and helping health care systems put those ideas into action.