Alberta's Strategic Clinical Networks: A roadmap for the future

Clinical networks are groups of clinicians, patients, operational leaders, and other stakeholders who work together to solve health challenges, translate evidence into practice, and improve health outcomes and clinical care. Networks enable health, community, and academic partners to align their efforts, address priority issues, and advance quality improvements, health innovation, and transformational change on a local and system-wide scale. Clinical networks have existed in some countries for nearly 20 years. Alberta first implemented clinical networks in 2012 in specific areas of health. There are now 16 Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) in Alberta, embedded within a province-wide health system. The SCNs have developed an action plan that builds on their experience and identifies common areas of focus. This article describes the SCNs, their impact to date, and the objectives, areas of focus, and processes Alberta's SCNs will use to improve health outcomes and health system performance over the next 5 years.