What is connected care?

Connected care — also referred to as interoperability — has 2 parts:

• The secure and timely exchange of health information between systems, such as a physician’s electronic medical records or a health technology solution one might see in a hospital
• The mutual interpretation of that information so that the sender and the recipient can understand the information that was exchanged with the same meaning

When that information is shared between systems seamlessly and confidentially, health care providers and patients benefit from having access to the health information they need when they need it.

Advancing connected care in Canada

As part of the work and commitments outlined in the Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians Plan, Canada is implementing the Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap. This roadmap creates a vision for modern and person-centric health care that is digitally connected and privacy-protected by design.

The roadmap sets out a 5-year plan to progress 4 strategic goals:

1. Reduce data blocking and ease portability 
2. Improve provider access to patient data at the point of care
3. Enable patient access to their health record 
4. Improve care coordination and collaboration

CIHI’s role in advancing the Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap

CIHI and Canada Health Infoway are partnering to modernize the flow of health information and to create a connected health system. CIHI has an important role in defining and standardizing the health data that will be exchanged, which is the first building block in the roadmap. We are working with individuals and organizations across the health sector to define comprehensive, person-centric health data content that will support clinical care planning and management, program planning and resource allocation, health system measurement and pan-Canadian comparability, and population and public health. The health data content and the associated architecture that CIHI is developing is called the Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework.

Call for participation to validate the Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework

CIHI is conducting an open review of the Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework. We invite you to learn more about the framework, access downloadable content and share your feedback.

• Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians Plan
• Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap
• Interoperability Saves Lives: Summary Report
• Better access to electronic health information key to improving health systems
• Data standards

Connected care

If you have questions about connected care or would like to be added to our stakeholder notification list, please email us:

connectedcare@cihi.ca 
 

We are seeking your input to validate draft content from the Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework. We invite you to explore this page to learn about the framework, access downloadable content and share your feedback.  

We are holding an open review period from March 7 to May 6, 2024. Feedback obtained during this review period will be considered for release 1.0 of the Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework (to be released in September 2024). Feedback obtained after the open review period will be considered for subsequent releases.  

Additional content will be made available for public review over time. If you would like to receive updates when new content is added, please email connectedcare@cihi.ca to be added to our stakeholder notification list.

The Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework defines and models person-centric health data.

Once fully implemented in digital health solutions, the framework will enable standardized and high-quality data to be exchanged across care settings to create a connected learning health system in Canada — one where data flows seamlessly for clinical care planning and management, program planning and resource allocation, health system measurement and pan-Canadian comparability, and population and public health.

The framework is technology-agnostic, which means it will support data being exchanged across various technologies and systems.

Benefits

The framework will benefit patients, health care providers, health systems and industry.

• Patients will have improved access to and control over their own health information, which will empower them to make informed decisions about their care, minimize errors and enhance transitions in care.  
• Health care providers will benefit from access to timely and comprehensive patient health information, which will reduce administrative burden; improve efficiency, accuracy and care coordination; and enhance confidence in clinical decision-making.
• Health system decision-makers will be able to harness consistent and standardized data to support evidence-based health system management and planning, which will reduce duplication, optimize care delivery and workflows, and provide greater value for money.
• Industry will have access to pan-Canadian standards, which will reduce the need to navigate variable requirements across the country, accelerate time to market, reduce expenses and free up resources for innovation.

Deliverables of the Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework

The Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework packages a series of individual products, which together ensure that health system technology developers can align their technical solutions with the foundational health concepts identified.

The first release of the framework focuses on health data that would be captured in a primary health care setting. Over time, the framework will also define the health data captured in hospitals, emergency departments, long-term care and other health domains.

Data content standard

The data content standard defines the data elements and value sets necessary for connected care.  

The data content standard specifies the data to be collected (e.g., diagnosis), as well as the language (e.g., SNOMED CT) and formats to be used (e.g., 44054006 | Type 2 diabetes mellitus). By doing so, the data content standard ensures accuracy, compatibility, uniformity and consistency in how health data is collected, interpreted and exchanged.  

Value sets are lists of specific values assigned to a data element. If eye colour was a data element, the value set might contain values such as brown, blue, hazel, amber and green. Value sets ensure that the same set of valid values is used across different systems, which reduces the risk of misinterpretation, enables information to be meaningfully exchanged across different systems and improves the quality and opportunity for reuse of exchanged data.

Information model

The information model is a high-level model that highlights the key real-world concepts important to understanding a person’s health and how they relate. The information model establishes subject areas for organizing concepts in the data models.  

Future releases

Additional content — including data models, data sets, a business context model, a business glossary and metadata — will be added to future releases of the framework.

Timeline

The Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework will be released in September 2024. It will focus on primary health care data captured in a patient summary and primary health care data for clinical consultation or referral. Release 1.0 will be made available to the public on this page.

Collaborative development process

The framework has been developed following a transparent and collaborative process that included

• Leveraging existing data content standards across Canada and internationally as a foundation
• Conducting gap analyses
• Documenting clinical scenarios, workflows and use cases
• Conducting targeted engagement and consultation
• Harnessing expertise and experience of a wide community of partners that included persons with lived experience, clinicians and care providers, Indigenous communities, industry, researchers, provincial and territorial governments, federal departments, and pan-Canadian health organizations such as Canada Health Infoway
• Making the framework available for comment and feedback through open reviews

• Connected care
• Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap
• CIHI invites you to help us shape connected care (video)

Connected care

If you have questions about connected care or would like to participate in our consultations, please email us:

connectedcare@cihi.ca