Ontario eHealth Standards

"Patients benefit if their comprehensive, accurate and secure health information is in the hands of their health care providers at the point of care. Standards play a critical role in this, by providing consistency to the collection and exchange of patient information across the health care system."

Greg A. Reed,
President and CEO of eHealth Ontario.

 

Standards enable the successful creation of electronic health records (EHRs) by allowing clinical data to be exchanged electronically among different health care organizations and information systems.

An "ehealth standard" is an agreed upon rule or format applied to support the definition, exchange and use of data related to any aspect of Health care Information Technology (HIT) activity. 

Interoperability is the ability of two or more systems to exchange information and use the information that has been exchanged.*

Standards address the demand for a more efficient health system using data as a resource to improve health care delivery. In addition, standards help increase patient safety, reduce health care costs and streamline reporting. Without standards, interoperability between and within organizations and information systems cannot be achieved.

* IEEE Standard Computer Dictionary: A Compilation of IEEE Standard Computer Glossaries, IEEE, 1990

Focus

The eHealth Standards Program undertake to:

  • Define clinical data for the electronic exchange between systems
  • Define the structure the exchange e.g. common data types, terminology and data definitions
  • Connect points of care
  • Work with programs and services of eHealth Ontario and its partners to work collaboratively.

We work with a wide range of stakeholders - such as health care providers, government ministries, health agencies, and software vendors. This approach helps us accurately identify the clinical and administrative data that needs to be captured and exchanged, ensuring that standards-based solutions reflect business requirements.

Our approach also involves harmonization wherever possible with existing pan-Canadian and international standards. This allows for the creation of standards-based solutions relevant to Ontario and compatible with industry best practices.

Part of the health care standards community

The eHealth Standards Program follows the standards development lifecycle to ensure each stage of development of a standard uses leading practice methodologies to create an interoperable solutions for health care delivery. .

Our team actively participates with colleagues at the local, provincial, national and international levels.  For Ontario, we recommend and promote standards supporting the province’s ehealth projects. Nationally, we collaborate in consensus-building processes with an array of standards development and management organizations to ensure Ontario’s requirements are realized. We also observe and monitor the ehealth landscape on an ongoing basis for trends and developments.

Example ehealth standards include:

  • How to encode diagnostic information (data definition)
  • Definition and exchange of discharge summary data (data exchange)
  • Client Registry messaging standard (data definition and exchange).
eHealth Standards enable the successful creation of the EHR for Ontario.
Need Identification and Business Definition
A request for a new specification/standard, or a request to change an existing specification/standard, is initiated. Requests for standard products are assessed and prioritized against the eHealth Ontario's priorities.
Options Research & Analysis
The process for researching and developing a standard will vary depending on the complexity, scope, strategic significance and likely impact of the request.
Solutions Development
There is a continual feedback loop between the consultation phase and the research and development phase and in many cases, these two phases will operate simultaneously. Adoption, adaption, and development require communication and engagement with stakeholders.
Testing/Pilot
Testing of a pre-production model or version, to locate or estimate design flaws or deficiencies.
Training & Education
Provide expertise and specific training and educational programs, events, and materials to assist interested parties in understanding eHealth Ontario Standards and the greater standards community at large.
Implementation
Support provided in the form of implementation tools, guidelines and advice.
Conformance
Conformance involves ensuring that eHealth Standards assets are appropriately implemented and that lessons learned from implementation can be fed back into revisions to eHealth Standards.
Maintenance and Support
Maintenance & Support involves the management of change and the ongoing review and updating of published specifications/standards, including the retirement of redundant and obsolete standards.