The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute partnered to conduct a “policy lab” to develop policy guidance to support a safe and consistent approach for reintegrating essential care partners back into healthcare facilities, long-term care and congregate care settings during a pandemic. This co-design policy process brought together people with a diverse range of expertise and COVID-19 related experience – including policy makers, healthcare administrators, providers, patients, families and caregivers. Over a series of sessions, they worked through a unique, iterative and rigorous methodology to codevelop policy guidance on the reintegration of care partners as essential care providers, and potential solutions for its implementation.