Canadian Joint Replacement Registry: Facility testing process

This page outlines the facility-testing process for the Canadian Joint Replacement Registry (CJRR). Facility testing is a process that allows facilities to verify that updates to their systems meet CIHI’s requirements. Annual facility testing is not required when there are no significant specification changes. CIHI will notify facilities to complete testing when significant specification changes are to be made. Prior to submitting data, surgeons and facilities need to register.

In order to facilitate the submission process and enhance data quality, all participating facilities are required to provide test data to CIHI in advance of live submissions to most CIHI databases, when applicable. New facilities and facilities that change vendors are still required to submit data for facility testing only once a facility’s licensed vendor has successfully submitted test data. 

Facility testing schedule

  • Early April: Vendor testing can begin (for new vendors)
  • Once a vendor passes testing: Facility testing can begin (for new facilities and facilities where there is a change in vendor)
  • End of July: Vendor and facility testing deadline
  • End of August: Q1 submission deadline

Vendor testing can begin in early April. A facility can submit data for testing once its vendor has successfully completed vendor testing. Since vendor and facility testing (if applicable) need to be successfully completed before a facility can begin submitting data to the live database, it is recommended that all required testing be completed well before July 31. 

Please note that while our processing time for files is often short, data processing can take up to 48 hours (2 business days) from the time the files are received. We recommend that facilities submit data well in advance of the deadline to allow for the standard 48-hour processing time and to allow time for error corrections and resubmissions, if necessary. 

The same file-processing times apply to both test data submissions and live/production data submissions. In addition, only the data submitted to CIHI’s electronic Data Submission Services (eDSS) system before 11:59 p.m. ET on the error correction deadline date will be processed for the quarterly data cut. This deadline will be adhered to regardless of the day of the week on which it falls.

The following testing process must be completed by participating facilities each fiscal year before they submit live data.

Facility-testing process 

Please note that if a facility has multiple sites, each site will be required to complete the facility-testing process.

  1. Each facility must verify that the vendor it uses to submit data to CJRR has completed CIHI’s vendor-testing process.
    • Each facility’s contact person should be notified by the vendor about the successful completion of vendor testing.
  2. The facility must then use eDSS to submit test data to CIHI.
    • For facility testing, select the option Facility/Organization Test Data Submission.
    • Test records can consist of genuine period 01 data or any period’s data from the facility’s live abstracting system. 
  3. The facility contact person will receive a notification by email stating one of the following:
    1. The files have been rejected.
      • Incorrectly named or duplicated files cannot be processed and will automatically be rejected by the CJRR system.
      • Facilities must correct all errors and resubmit the files. 
      • When naming files for resubmission, both the .zip and .txt file names must be named using a sequence number greater than the ones used for previous submissions (please note that a file sequence number must be unique within a period). 
    2. The test file has been processed and the CJRR Electronic Submission Report is ready for download.
      • If the facility contact person does not receive an email notification within 3 business days of submitting the facility’s test file, he or she should contact the CJRR team via email (cjrr@cihi.ca).
  4. The first page of the Electronic Submission Report includes a high-level summary of the processed test file. The remainder of the report indicates all severe (hard) and non-severe (warning) errors based on validation rules for CJRR.
    • These reports are reviewed by a CJRR team member to verify that the test data file was processed correctly and contained less than 10% errors. 
  5. The CJRR team will determine whether testing was successful or not.
    • Facilities having 0 errors should not automatically assume that testing was successful. 
    • The CJRR team will inform the facility contact person via email whether testing was successful. Any files directed to the production system before this communication will be deleted. 
  6. Once the CJRR team has notified the facility contact person that testing was successful, data can be transmitted to the live production system.
    • Please note that test files are not automatically transferred to the live production system. 
    • At this point in the process, facilities should submit data via eDSS using the option Facility/Organization Live Data Submission. 
  7. Facilities that have no records available to submit for the period 01 (no surgeries from April to July of the current year) should not submit a blank file. Instead, they can perform facility testing when cases become available, even if it is after the facility-testing deadline.
    • This option is intended for day surgery facilities.

If you have any questions about the CJRR facility-testing process, please send us an email at cjrr@cihi.ca.

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