The BETTER approach focuses on prevention and screening of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and associated lifestyle factors (diet, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol). Specifically, the approach identifies a new role (the Prevention Practitioner), which can be taken on by any clinician or health care professional including those in rural or remote settings and working with Indigenous communities and populations.

Informed by the BETTER toolkit, the purpose of this skilled role is to work directly with patients to determine which cancer and chronic disease prevention and screening actions they are eligible to receive, and through a process involving shared decision-making and S.M.A.R.T. goal setting, develop a unique, personalized “Prevention Prescription” with each patient.

The BETTER Institute is a not-for-profit organization that builds on the BETTER Prevention Practitioner Training Institute, which was funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) for the period of 2018-2021. The Institute aims fulfill our mission of improving the health of Canadians through the scale and spread of The BETTER Program™ across Canada.

The program is flexible and designed to meet the needs of a variety of primary care settings including solo practices, large multidisciplinary group practices, fee-for-service, salaried or alternative relationship plans, and rural or urban settings. As such, the BETTER model is well suited to address the cancer and chronic disease prevention needs of rural, remote, and Indigenous populations where primary care service resources may be limited and having a Prevention Practitioner can increase the capacity to address chronic conditions and their associated risk factors.

Ultimately, this initiative has the potential to improve the health of Canadians through the introduction of a new model of care that integrates cancer and chronic disease prevention and screening into diverse primary care settings throughout Canada.