Who We Are
Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) is a federally-funded, independent, not-for-profit organization whose Members are Canada's 14 federal, provincial and territorial Deputy Ministers of Health. Infoway is Canada's catalyst for collaborative change to accelerate the use of electronic health information systems and electronic health records (EHRs) across the country.
Created in 2001, Infoway invests in a common, pan-Canadian framework of electronic health record systems where best practices and successful projects in one region can be shared or replicated in another. These systems are increasingly providing health care professionals with rapid access to accurate and complete patient information, enabling better decisions about treatment and diagnosis. The result will be a modernized and sustainable health care system offering improved accessibility, quality and productivity.
As a strategic investor, we work in collaboration with health ministries, regional authorities, other health care organizations and information system vendors to best align Infoway's investments with jurisdictional plans and to leverage existing solutions. Once investment decisions are made, our public sector partners lead the development, implementation and use of EHR solutions. We provide leadership by establishing a strategic direction for EHR implementation in Canada in collaboration with the provinces and territories.
Since its inception, Infoway has approved more than 245 projects in the following targeted program areas: Diagnostic Imaging Systems,
Drug Information Systems,
Infostructure,
Innovation and Adoption,
Interoperable EHR,
Laboratory Information Systems,
Public Health Surveillance,
Registries and
Telehealth. In the fall of 2007, the Infoway Board of Directors approved the investment strategy for a tenth program, Patient Access to Quality Care.
Find out more about how we work and our governance policies.
Infoway's five strategic pillars
Infoway's business model, built on five complementary strategies, is assisting Canada's provinces and territories to accelerate the reform of their health care systems. The strategies are:
- Participate in health care renewal — support national, jurisdiction and local initiatives to strengthen health care.
- Collaborate with our partners — work together with our public and private sector partners to ensure progress and alignment.
- Target the investments — accelerate the investment in and replication of solutions that support health system transformation and innovation.
- Support solution deployment — provide expertise to support our partners to successfully implement secure electronic health information solutions, as well as monitor projects to ensure cost and risk are well managed.
- Promote solution adoption and benefits realization — facilitate clinical leadership, advance best practices in the clinician adoption of solutions, as well as support the measurement and realization of benefits.
Our goal
- By 2010, every province and territory and the populations they serve will benefit from new health information systems that will help modernize the Canadian health care system. Further, 50 per cent of Canadians will have their electronic health record readily available to the authorized professionals who provide their health care services.
Read more about our current business priorities in the 2007-2008 Corporate Business Plan.
Our mission
- To foster and accelerate the development and adoption of electronic health information systems with compatible standards and communications technologies on a pan-Canadian basis, with tangible benefits to Canadians.
- To build on existing initiatives and pursue collaborative relationships in pursuit of our mission.
Vision
- A high-quality, sustainable and effective Canadian health care system supported by an infostructure that provides residents of Canada and their health care providers with timely, appropriate and secure access to the right information when and where they enter into the health care system. Respect for privacy is fundamental to this vision.
Consulting with leaders in all areas of the Canadian health care sector, Infoway has developed 2015: Advancing Canada's Next Generation of Health Care — a comprehensive strategy for the next 10 years of investment in health care information systems. Need a quick summary of the 2015 report? Read At a glance.
Infoway's privacy mandate
Respect for privacy is fundamental to the vision of an interoperable electronic health record system.
Infoway's funding agreement requires it to:
“incorporate the protection of personal health information in its activities in accordance with applicable laws and privacy principles.” These applicable laws refer to the provincial and territorial laws and policies that dictate how personal health information is handled.
Infoway achieves this through privacy impact assessments, our privacy and security architecture and information governance of the EHR.
To learn more about our commitment to privacy, read Privacy and Security for Electronic Health Information Systems or our whitepaper on Information Governance of the Interoperable EHR.