The HHS CREATE team is developing the pan-Canadian specifications for this framework, which will allow web applications from providers to plug into various electronic medical records and point-of-care solutions so they can be shared.
Currently, Canada’s primary care providers, hospitals and other providers such as long-term care facilities use a variety of different EMRs for storing confidential patient information. These systems are rarely compatible so information can’t be quickly or easily shared. This lack of connection translates into longer waits for patient care, because of the time it takes to transfer health information between providers using outdated technology like fax machines.
“The longer-term vision is an enormous undertaking because of the scope, but the work happening now is providing valuable first steps towards what the future could look like.”
-Dr. Jeremy Petch
CREATE has significant expertise in FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), the new and cutting-edge way to access health-care information instantly between different computer systems, regardless of how information is stored.
The CREATE team is working with Infoway, Ontario and B.C. to build out one of the first components of this roadmap to demonstrate how it would work.
“Through our team’s contract with Infoway, we’re helping to establish an environment where information can confidentially flow between existing, differing electronic medical records across Canada.”
-Dr. Ted Scott
CREATE is staffed with experts in software engineering, AI and data sciences, and this team works to develop new ideas and digital solutions that fundamentally reimagine how health care is delivered.
This goal for this project is to instantly connect the different electronic medical records systems used, for example, by thousands of Canada’s family doctors, hospitals and long-term care facilities, allowing providers to quickly and confidentially access patient medical records for faster, better and safer care.
