Since 2014, Unité de soutien SSA Québec (formerly Unité de soutien SRAP du Québec) has championed patient partnership. Over time, this partnership has evolved and grown. We now use the term “health partners” to refer to patients, caregivers, and citizen partners who work with us to co-create solutions. In March 2026, our unit implemented a Framework for the Recognition and Compensation of Health Partners; a document that replaced the organization’s former guidelines on the compensation of patient partners.
The following tool is designed to share with you the approach we used to co-create our management framework with health partners, their representatives, and our institution. It provides steps to follow as well as templates.
It has the potential to facilitate the adoption of your framework for managing the recognition and compensation of health partners by optimizing adherence to it (co-creating to minimize friction), the efficiency of the process (approach and templates), and the recognition of partners (content of the Unit’s framework cited as an example).
This resource can guide those who directly engage health partners—including health and social services professionals, researchers, and quality improvement officers—in their work.
It can also help decision-makers or managers implement a management framework within their organization or division.
Current or prospective health partners can use this tool to understand how the Unit created its compensation management framework and how health partner compensation works at the Unit.
This tool consists of a step-by-step guide provided by Unité de soutien SSA Québec for establishing a framework for managing the compensation of healthcare partners. It provides templates and describes the approach adopted by the Unit (including its framework and a guided tour of the online portal designed for healthcare partners and those who mandate them).
Boutin, J. (2026, May 4). How to build a framework for managing the compensation of patients, caregivers, and citizens? Unité de soutien SSA Québec. https://ssaquebec.ca/en/news/how-to-build-a-framework-for-managing-the-compensation-of-patients-caregivers-and-citizens/
Instructions, templates, and example
We recommend using our document “Framework for the Recognition and Compensation of Healthcare Partners” as a starting point to outline your future framework.
- Assemble a team composed of healthcare partners, research experts, and other individuals interested in or involved in compensation.
- Determine the scope of the project: what is included and what is excluded. For example:
- The following issues are included: compensation, salary, gift cards, tax issues, and administrative issues.
- The following issues are excluded: the status of the healthcare partner (temporary or permanent employee, etc.), and liability insurance.
- Identify who will be responsible for approving the document.
- Confirm the steps, deadlines, and expectations.
- Determine the project’s scope within the budgetary framework and the institution’s regulations, and share this information with the project team before conducting consultations.
- Confirm a high-level timeline to determine when you want to finalize your compensation management framework.
- Use a project management approach to identify the steps, responsible parties, deadlines, and current completion status for each task.
- Identify the person or team responsible for administrative aspects.
- Allow the project team to get to know one another and explore members’ areas of interest.
- Share the current internal context (existing framework, if any) and external context (frameworks of partners or other organizations) regarding compensation.
- Determine the roles and responsibilities of project team members.
- Organize consultation groups with health partners to understand their current situation and expectations (while remaining realistic).
- Provide meeting minutes and project updates to relevant stakeholders.
- Once the team agrees on one or more key points, draft an initial proposal and validate it with managers.
- If the proposal is accepted, move on to the next step; otherwise, resume discussions.
- Identify stakeholders, key messages, and a rollout schedule. Download the communication plan template
- Determine the order in which information will be shared with stakeholders, as well as the communication channels to be used (e.g., newsletter, email, in-person meeting, online portal, etc.), and identify who will support the rollout.
- Establish administrative processes and procedures related to compensation.
- Develop various documents to enable and facilitate the administrative management of compensation for healthcare partners (see example below)
Please note that the templates provided here are static versions of the templates the Unit uses in an online solution (Smartsheet), which enables the use of an automated system and shared documents. These documents comply with confidentiality rules.
- The person wishing to award a mandate first communicates with the healthcare partner they intend to engage to define the nature of their participation and assign them a mandate within the scope of their project. They then put the healthcare partner in touch with the secretariat, which is responsible for completing the administrative procedures required to activate the “employee” file.
- Creating the mandate: The person in charge of the project drafts the mandate. Download the mandate template
- Once the mandate is completed, it is automatically sent by email for approval.
- Accepting the mandate: The health partner accepts the mandate entrusted to them after reviewing the details. The email sent includes:
- Detailed instructions for accepting the mandate (there is also a tutorial on “how to accept a new mandate”);
- Note: If this is the person’s first mandate with the Unit, they must also accept the master agreement, which is included in the same email. Download the Global Agreement example
- Access to documents in Smartsheet: Once the contract (and, if applicable, the master agreement) has been approved, the documents are automatically uploaded to the healthcare partner’s “My Files” section in Smartsheet. From this personalized space in Smartsheet, the healthcare partner can:
- Submit a payment request (download the payment request template);
- View their active and past mandates;
- Track their payment requests and their statuses.
- Approval of payment requests: When a new payment request is initiated by a healthcare partner:
- The approver, who is generally the person who initiated the assignment, receives a notification email.
- This person validates the:
- hours reported;
- remuneration rate, in accordance with the terms of the assignment.
- Administrative processing and payment: once the request is approved:
- The person in charge forwards the request to the relevant administrative department.
- Payment is then made by deposit into the healthcare partner’s account.
An online portal where you can find everything in one place
You may activate the automated transalation in YouTube.
Please note that the templates provided here are static versions of the templates the Unit uses in an online solution (Smartsheet), which allows for the use of an automated system and shared documents. These documents comply with confidentiality policies.
Download the global agreement example