A Learning Health System (LHS) approach blends research with health care operations to speed the generation, synthesis, uptake, and refinement of evidence to improve population health, equity, patient experience, health workforce sustainability, and affordability. This LHS Action Framework describes how research and health care operations are linked and enacted in a comprehensive LHS approach to advance population health and health equity. Health systems and researchers who seek to implement an LHS approach can use this framework to identify capabilities necessary to systematically enact the learning elements.

The Learning Health System Action Framework was created by researchers at the Institute for Better Health (IBH) in collaboration with the Ontario SPOR Support Unit (OSSU). We thank Drs. Robert Reid, Walter Wodchis, Kerry Kuluski, Nakia Lee-Foon, John Lavis, Laura Rosella and Laura Desveaux for its creation. We also thank the OSSU Learning Health System working group for their input.

These materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which means that you are free to use, share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon) the material for any non-commercial purpose, as long as appropriate attribution is included.

Funding for these materials was provided by Ontario SPOR SUPPORT Unit, which is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Province of Ontario and partner Ontario hospital foundations and institutes. Funding support was also provided by the Hazel McCallion Research Chair in Learning Health Systems at Trillium Health Partners.

• LHS Brief (PDF, 1.45mb)
• The Learning Health System: An Introduction (YouTube)