Interoperable Electronic Health Record pan-Canadian Standards Group (iEHR pCSG)

Overview

The interoperable Electronic Health Record Program will implement solutions that support the creation of an Electronic Health Record that links clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and other points of care. Establishing an interoperable EHR solution allows clinicians to view and update an integrated patient-centric health record that includes demographic, diagnostic imaging, drug, laboratory, infectious disease, immunization and other relevant health information anywhere, any time.

Electronic health records will give authorized providers rapid access to their patients' complete, up-to-date health information, including physician visits, hospital stays, diagnostic images and reports, laboratory test results, prescribed drugs and immunizations. A network of interoperable electronic health record solutions in Canada — one that links clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and other points of care — will help improve Canadians' access to health services, enhance the quality of care and patient safety, and assist the healthcare system to become more efficient and effective.

The need for electronic health records is recognized globally as one approach to support the evolution of our modern healthcare system. Canada is no exception. Electronic health records clearly enable the required improvements in access, quality and productivity required to support Canada's Healthcare Renewal agenda.

The iEHR Standards Project has been approved to establish pan-Canadian standards, leveraging the Standards Collaboration Process, to support the needs of the iEHR implementation projects across the country.

Membership

The iEHR pan-Canadian Standards Group is a group of stakeholders representing jurisdictions, end users in the healthcare community and vendors. The list of members selected will be provided in March 2006.

Group Member Stakeholder Category Title & Other Declared Organizational Affiliation Email Telephone
Autry Dawe FPT NL Technical Leader, NL Centre for Health Information autryd@nichi.nl.ca

 709.757.2404
Colin Hattie Vendor Senior Technical Consultant, Xwave Colin.Hattie@xwave.com

 506.649.8490
Stephen Lafferty Vendor Director, Product Management, Purkinje slafferty@purkinje.com

 514.355.0888 x308
Robert Landry Social Worker Province of New Brunswick Department of Health and Wellness Robert.landry@gnb.ca

 506.856.2552
Karanne Lambton HIMP Director, Strategic Alliances Canadian Health Information Management Association ehrm@telus.net

 604.924.3476
Karen Kuhn HIMP Project Manager, Electronic Medical Summary Project, Vancouver Island Health Authority Karen.kuhn@vch.ca

 778.688.3146
Lori Forand Nurse Nursing Practice Consultant, Calgary Health Region Lori.forand@calgaryhealthregion.ca

 403.943.3144
Stephen Rosenthal Physician Family Physician, College of Family Physicians of Canada Stephen.Rosenthal@mcgill.ca

 514.340.8222 x3898
Morgan Price MD Physician Lead Faculty Informatics, Department of Family Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Coastal Health morgan@virtuallypriceless.org

 604.488.1413
Rick Senior Physician Family Physician, Northgate Medical Clinic rsenior@cogeco.ca

 705.495.6276
Cathy Davis CIHI Manager, Clinical Administrative Databases, Canadian Institute for Health Information cdavis@cihi.ca

 416.544.5580
Dale Smith FPT BC Director Standards and Architecture, Consultant to BC Ministry of Health Services Dale.g.smith@gov.bc.ca

 250.952.1245
Jocelyn Chretien Emmell FPT Federal Project Officer, Federal Healthcare Partnership Secretariat, Government of Canada Jocelyne.Emmell@vac-acc.gc.ca

 613.947.3749
Greg Sherman FPT Federal Senior Health Architect, Public Health Agency of Canada Gregory_Sherman@phac-aspc.gc.ca

 613.957.8615
Mark Brisson FPT AB Director, Information Management, Alberta Health and Wellness Mark.Brisson@gov.ab.ca

 780.427.1572
Wilma Arsenault FPT MB Director, Information Systems, Manitoba Health warsenault@gov.mb.ca

 204.786.7381
Jane Anne Hendricks FPT ON Business Analyst, Smart Systems for Health Agency Ontario Jane.hendricks@ssha.on.ca

 416.586.4322
Lise Chagnon FPT QC Directrice adjointe, Direction des services professionnels et hospitaliers, Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Laval Lise_chagnon_csl@ssss.gouv.qc.ca

 450.975.5379
Pierre Blanchard FPT QC Médecin Consultant, Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux du Quebec pblanchard@cmg.org

 418.683.6063
Gerry Fairweather FPT NB Application Architect, Office of eHealth, Health and Wellness, Government of New Brunswick Gerry.Fairweather@gnb.ca

 506.462.5167
Heather Cooper FPT AB Manager, Health Information Standards, Alberta Health and Wellness Heather.cooper@gov.ab.ca

 780.427.4734
Steven D. Soroka FPT NS Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University; Capital District Health Authority Steven.soroka@cdha.nshealth.ca

 902.472.2099

How to get involved

Online Forum & Mailing List

An online discussion forum has been established to support this work. To register for the forum go to knowledge.infoway-inforoute.ca. The mailing list provides project updates and notifications as specifications are made available for review. To subscribe please contact standards@infoway-inforoute.ca.

HL7 Forum

Health Level 7 version 3 has been chosen as the desired standard for iEHR messaging. Specification materials produced by the iEHR standards project will be submitted to the applicable HL7 committees for consideration towards inclusion in upcoming HL7 ballots. Canadian stakeholders are encouraged to engage in this process early. Once HL7 balloting is underway, all HL7 members will have an opportunity to comment on the specifications and endorse their adoption.

How to get more information

For additional information on the iEHR Project, please contact standards@infoway-inforoute.ca.