The tools and information here allow health authorities and the Ministry of Health Services to share project plans, best practices, and lessons learned in the health sector in BC. Here you can find information on initiatives (strategic plan projects) being implemented to support the goals outlined in the Health CIO Council's report:

Information for Health, A Strategic Plan for Health Information Management in British Columbia 2002/03 - 2006/07.

Current initiatives are detailed in the Tactical Plan for Health Information Management in British Columbia - January 2005.

Five initiatives currently underway by healthnetBC and its partners are the Electronic Medical Summary (e-MS) Project, Enhanced Provider Registry Project, the BC Healthcare Client Identity Management Project, the EHR Architecture Project and HNData/BC.

Electronic Medical Summary (e-MS) Project

The Electronic Medical Summary (e-MS) Project will develop standards and technology to improve patient care. This initiative will enable the electronic exchange and sharing of patient information among primary health care providers and other health professionals. A key goal of the e-MS project is to provide physicians in BC with a more efficient, effective and reliable way to share data. This will offer integration and interoperability to communicate critical patient information. When a patient is referred to new or various health professionals, they will have the benefit of current, timely, and comprehensive health information for the patient. In this way, e-MS will support continuity of care among a team of care providers and practices.

The e-MS will serve either as an independent tool or as an integrated part of the office’s electronic medical record (EMR) system. Information or data will include health concerns, allergies, tests, treatment and medical procedures. The e-MS will consist of a standardized XML document that can be exchanged electronically between physician office systems or transmitted using secure transport protocols to sites on a computer.

The e-MS Project is one initiative underway as part of BC’s Primary Health Care Transition Fund (PHCTF). The Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) is leading the project and will act as the pilot site. Key partners include the BC Ministry of Health Services, the BC Medical Association (BCMA), and the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA). In addition, at least one other primary health care environment in a BC health authority will pilot the e-MS Project in the four-year PHCTF funding time frame, ending on March 31, 2006. The e-MS will become one of the key components of the BC Electronic Health Record Strategy

BC Healthcare Client Identity Management Project

The BC Healthcare Client Identity Management Project is one of the building blocks of Electronic Health Record (EHR) strategy. Phase 0 and Phase 1 of the project included the development and recommendation of a Client Identity Management implementation strategy for the BC healthcare sector. Province-wide consultation and collaboration was achieved through formation of a Working Group, appointed and selected by the BC Health CIO Council. The Working Group, comprised of key members from each of the five Health Authorities, the Provincial Health Services Authority and the Ministry of Health Services, met regularly over a 5 month period and reached consensus on the need for a provincial Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) in support of immediate health authority needs to integrate data and a provincial and Pan-Canadian EHR. The CIM business model and implementation strategy defined in Phase 0 is documented in the BC Healthcare Client Identity Management Strategy Report.

Collaboration between the health authorities, the Provincial Health Services Authority and Ministry of Health Services continued through Phase 1 of the project and delivered provincial business and technical requirements for a CIM solution.

The project is now well into Phase 2 acquisition component of the project. The Acquisition phase involves procuring the products and services and performing the implementation planning activities for development and deployment of the EMPI and the initial source systems.

The final phase of the BC HCIM project includes rollout of BC HCIM to the remaining source systems and system operations. This phase will begin in April 2006.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) Architecture
        Project

British Columbia's tactical direction for the development of an electronic health record specifies that, among other things, development should be:

• evolutionary,
• based on replicating solutions,
• on the basis of a convergence strategy,
• with a service-oriented architecture, and,
• rooted in a standards-based approach.

As a result, one of the priority initiatives the health authorities and the Ministry have selected is a project to lead to the development of an overall federated architecture to allow specific EHR projects and approaches to be positioned within a common framework.

• explore potential approaches based on the City Planning theme;
• determine the level of detail required to document the 'City Plan' in order to codify long-term intent, the evolution framework, design patterns, shared facilities, placement and approval standards, so that development decisions can be made by Health Authorities;
• recommend ongoing processes, roles and responsibilities; and
• align the approach with Infoway's architecture.

• maximum project and operational autonomy within a common framework of usages and participant roles versus a centrally driven detailed blueprint;
• build-out via independent projects, consistent with the framework, over an extended time frame rather than through a single, monolithic effort;
• collaborative identification and prioritization of needed shared facilities and infrastructure versus a completely ad hoc or central technocratic approach; and,
• agreement on appropriate usage patterns and their placement as a way of harmonizing and converging approaches versus detailed product and configuration constraints.

HNData/BC

The HNData/BC Project is establishing a secure data warehouse for health information in British Columbia. This will integrate data from sources inside and outside the Ministry into a comprehensive, reliable source on the state of health, health services, and health care management across the province.

The HNData/BC Project will achieve improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of information management and planning in BC's health system, enabling health service managers to make better informed business decisions.

Last Revised: December 27 2007