CONNECTED CARE TRUST FRAMEWORK

Enabling Trusted Health Data Exchange Across Canada

What is the Connected Care Trust Framework?

The Connected Care Trust Framework (CCTF) is Canada’s national, federated approach to enabling secure, scalable health data exchange so that health information can follow patients wherever they receive care.

It establishes the shared rules, governance, legal agreements, and technical foundations that allow health systems to connect and share information safely and consistently across care settings, teams, and jurisdictions, while respecting provincial, territorial, and Indigenous authority over data and systems.

The CCTF does not replace existing systems or centralize data. It provides the common foundation that allows them to work together, ensuring health information can be shared appropriately to support better, more connected care.

Why it Matters

Canada has made significant progress in digitizing health information, with systems now widely in place across hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and labs, generating rich health data every day.

But digitization alone does not create a connected system. Today, a patient’s health information remains spread across multiple providers, systems, and regions. As a result, patients are often asked to repeat their medical history, clinicians may not have access to complete, timely information, and as a result, care can be delayed, duplicated, or less coordinated.

The CCTF addresses this by establishing the national infrastructure for trusted health data exchange, enabling health information to move safely, predictably, and at scale, supporting more connected care for patients and providers alike.

Data Readiness

Learn more about Canada's Connected Care Trust Framework and how it helps ensure that when a patient receives care, anywhere in Canada, the right information is available, securely and appropriately, at the right time.

How the CCTF Works

The CCTF establishes a common foundation for trusted data exchange across Canada, built on three core components:

  • Common Governance Framework: Defines how participation, oversight, and accountability are managed, ensuring trust is maintained across the system while respecting jurisdictional authority.
  • Common Legal Framework (NHISA): Provides a standardized, reusable agreement that replaces one-off contracts, so organizations can share information without renegotiating each time.
  • Common Technical Framework: Enables systems to securely recognize one another, verify identity, and exchange information according to authorized permissions.

Together, these components enable a “trust once, reuse many times” model, making it easier for health information to move wherever it is needed to support patient care.