Registries

Accurately identifying patients, health care practitioners and healthcare facilities is a critical underpinning of electronic health information systems. Without the ability to uniquely identify patients and link their medical records from multiple systems, it is impossible to give health care providers a given patient's health history.

The benefits of the EHR—higher quality care and increased patient safety for example—begin with accurately linking an individual's identifier in a secure and private electronic environment. Achieving these benefits is also dependent on capturing information about licensed health care providers which can be used to authenticate them, ensuring that they are authorized to access the EHR.

Infoway is working with various jurisdictions to implement registries which may be reused or adapted across the country.

Three types of registries are being established:

(1) Client Registries: A single directory or “White Pages” in each province or territory that contains current patient health identification numbers, demographic information (name, address, health insurance card number) as well as historic demographic information (maiden name, former addresses).

(2) Provider Registry: A single directory or “Yellow Pages” per jurisdiction providing a comprehensive and unambiguous identification of participating providers, including doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and other healthcare professionals.

(3) Service Delivery Location Registry: A single directory per jurisdiction providing a comprehensive directory of all health service delivery locations where patients receive care (hospitals, clinics, physician offices).

List of Projects

Program Benefits

  • Quality
    • Effectiveness: Improved completeness and accuracy of available health information to support clinical decision-making.
  • Productivity
    • Efficiency: Improved information management, resulting in reduced administrative time and costs.
    • Care Coordination: Increased access to integrated patient information across the continuum of care.