January 17, 2005 (St. John's, NL) - The Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information (NLCHI) and Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) announced today the successful implementation of the first provincial client registry in Canada.
The Unique Personal Identifier and Client Registry (UPI/Client Registry) is an information system and database of patient, client, and resident demographic information that has been used since 2002 by all hospitals, community services offices, long-term care facilities, and the Medical Care Plan (MCP) to identify accurately all individuals accessing the health system in Newfoundland and Labrador. This has allowed organizations to have up-to-date contact information without the need for people to get in touch with the organization when they move.
In December 2003, the Centre for Health Information and Infoway agreed to enhance the UPI/Client Registry, improving the timely access to accurate demographic information within the province and building in capacity to communicate with future client registry systems across Canada (interoperability). Infoway invested $5.4 million and the Department of Health and Community Services invested $3.6 million in the Client Registry project.
"The state-of-the-art UPI/Client Registry provides a rock solid foundation for the provincial electronic health record that the Centre is developing in cooperation with pharmacists, physicians, radiologists, the health boards and the Department of Health and Community Services," said Steve O'Reilly, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Health Information. "Both the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Network, (the RFP will be issued this month), and the provincial DI/PACS Network (diagnostic imaging and Picture Archiving and Communications Systems) will use the UPI/Client Registry for identifying patients."
Richard Alvarez, Infoway's President and CEO, had high praise for the Centre's achievement. "This successful implementation is a major milestone. The completion of this and similar projects, such as the Capital Health regional client registry in Alberta, paves the way for implementation of interoperable registries across Canada, an important first step on the way to establishing a pan-Canadian Electronic Health Record for all Canadians."
Mr. Alvarez noted that the lessons learned and the solutions developed both in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Alberta "have provided invaluable material for the CR toolkit which will be used by other jurisdictions to replicate similar Client Registry systems. We applaud their achievements."
The Centre for Health Information prepared 90 documents to be included in the Infoway Toolkit for Client Registries for use by other jurisdictions - Client Registry initiatives are currently in progress in nine other jurisdictions. The Centre has had extensive consultations with New Brunswick, Ontario, and Nova Scotia regarding their planning for client registries.
About
The Centre for Health Information was established in 1996 with a mandate to provide quality health information to health service providers, decision makers, researchers and the public. Quality health information is information that is accurate, timely and in the least identifiable form for the authorized purpose. The Centre?s mandate includes the development of a secure Health Information Network, the foundation for the provincial Electronic Health Record.
Canada Health Infoway's mission is to accelerate the development of compatible electronic health information systems across Canada. These systems provide healthcare professionals with rapid access to complete and accurate patient information, enabling better decisions about treatment and diagnosis. The result is a sustainable, more cost-efficient healthcare system offering improved patient safety and better quality of care. Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit corporation whose members are the federal, provincial, and territorial deputy ministers of health.