Description

Project background

As part of its strategy to modernize its data supply, CIHI reached out to health organizations with advanced digital health initiatives to partner with CIHI on small scale feasibility projects to better understand the extent to which EHR data aligns with CIHI reporting standards.

This collaboration focused on evaluating the potential of automating and streamlining hospital data flow from VIHA’s EHR implementation to CIHI.  VIHA provided CIHI with data extracts which were compared to data provided to CIHI via the existing coding and abstracting method. Following a mapping exercise between the EHR’s data dictionary and CIHI’s data standards, a series of data feeds were created from VIHA’s structured digital data – the first two focused on registration data, the third on interventions, while the fourth provided diagnostic information on inpatient stays. This demonstration project gave us a deeper appreciation for the complexities associated with utilizing EHRs to reduce manual data collection and the time required to realize benefits.