Matt holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Human Health from Queen’s University and a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Western University (where he was awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship). He is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western and an adjunct professor in the Interfaculty Program in Public Health and at the Ivey Business School.
Throughout his career he has worked on a number of health system design projects with partners including Ontario’s Ministry of Health, Ontario Health, Ontario Health Teams, hospitals and community care organizations. He has published extensively on a variety of health system topics and has established research partnerships locally, nationally, and internationally.
Day 1: Dec 5, 2023
4:00 pm
CASE STUDY: THE CULTURE OF DATA
Why Strategy Alone isn’t Enough
Ontario’s health system is at an inflection point. For decades, hospitals have absorbed capacity gaps across the continuum-an unsustainable “catch-all” that produces poor integrated care experiences and outcomes. Changing this hospital-first culture demands more than a plan: it requires systems thinking, strategic foresight, and a data-driven culture that moves decisions closer to the point of care. It also requires establishing a common collective vision and successful data initiatives through trust, empowerment and leadership at every level.
This case study explores how a single, composite metric termed Population Avoidable Days (PAD) is helping to unify leaders, clinicians, and partners around a shared “True North” focused on reducing inpatient bed days that don’t need to be in hospital.
You’ll leave with practical solutions on how to:
- Translate data into daily behaviours, align incentives across the ecosystem, and demonstrate how Learning-Health System practices turn insight into sustained action.
- Leverage absolute (not relative) measures like PAD to motivate improvements by frontline teams.
- Uphold patient-centered care when perceptions conflict with core values.
- Navigate structural barriers and system limitations to desired outcomes
Grow a culture that reliably turns evidence into practice, and practice into freed capacity and improved outcomes.
Day 2: Dec 6, 2023
