Mental health and substance use: Overview

To address the growing need for timely access to mental health and substance use services, we are working to develop and report on a set of pan-Canadian indicators that focus on measuring access to mental health and substance use services and to home and community care.

We also support the implementation and use of comprehensive and standardized clinical assessments in mental health and substance use care. The assessments are part of a suite of interRAI tools, including the Resident Assessment Instrument–Mental Health (RAI-MH) for inpatient mental health care and the interRAI Community Mental Health (interRAI CMH) for community-based care. Information that is captured during the assessment process contributes to clinical care planning and system-level decision-making.
 

CIHI manages 2 databases that are dedicated to inpatient mental health and substance use services: the Hospital Mental Health and Substance Use (HMHSU) Data Asset and the Ontario Mental Health Reporting System (OMHRS).

The HMHSU includes pan-Canadian demographic, administrative and diagnosis information. It integrates information from multiple CIHI data sources to focus on hospitalizations with a main diagnosis of mental illness or substance use.

OMHRS contains comprehensive information on individuals who receive inpatient mental health services in selected provinces. OMHRS data is derived from clinical assessments based on the RAI-MH.

Many of CIHI’s other data holdings contain data relevant to mental health and substance use, such as information about the health workforce, pharmaceuticals and spending.