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Analytical Plan
Analytical Plan
CIHI aims to provide relevant and timely information that will help support better health care related decisions. The analysis of this information aims to:
CIHI aims to provide relevant and timely information that will help support better health care related decisions. The analysis of this information aims to:
*Provide insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of the the health care system in Canada with respects to the populations needs.

provide insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of the the health care system in Canada with respects to the populations needs.
*Connect the performance of the health care system to the actual outcomes.
*Help decision and policy makers assess the changes in policies, practices and processes and their impacts within the health care system.


==Featured Content==
==Featured Content==

Revision as of 20:51, 12 February 2012

Canadian Institute for Health Information
Company typePrivate, Not-for-Profit
IndustryHealth care, Health Indicators, Biostatistics, Health Informatics
Founded1994
HeadquartersCanada
Key people
John Wright, President & CEO
ProductsHealth Information, Reports
Number of employees
700+
Websitehttp://www.cihi.ca

The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is an independent, not-for-profit corporation that aims to contribute to the improvement of the health of Canadians and the health care system by disseminating quality health information. [1] Its vision is to "help improve Canada's health system and the well-being of Canadians by being a leading source of unbiased, credible and comparable information that will enable health leaders to make better-informed decisions." Additionally, CIHI's data and reports are privided to help inform health policies, support the effective delivery of health services and to raise awareness among Canadians in general on current research and trends in the healthcare industry that contribute to better health outcomes.[2]

CIHI was established in 1994. It is governed by a 16 member board of directors that links federal, provincial and territorial governments with non-governmental health-related groups. The members represent health sectors and all regions of Canada, and their strategic guidance steers CIHI's activities and functions. CIHI has offices in: Toronto and Ottawa as well as branches in Montreal, Victoria, and St. John's.[1]

Corporate Strategy

CIHI has an ongoing system of developing and evaluating their long term and short term strategies for the research that they undertake. These strategies are developed in collaboration and reflect the the input of their stakeholders and the current issues and challenges facing Canada's health care system.

Analytical Plan CIHI aims to provide relevant and timely information that will help support better health care related decisions. The analysis of this information aims to:

  • Provide insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of the the health care system in Canada with respects to the populations needs.
  • Connect the performance of the health care system to the actual outcomes.
  • Help decision and policy makers assess the changes in policies, practices and processes and their impacts within the health care system.

Featured Content

CIHI produces various reports to support those who partake in health services research, they collaborate with a variety of stakeholders to create and maintain a broad range of health databases, measurements and standards. It draws on them as well as outside sources to develop publicly available reports and analyses.

These reports include:

  • Strategic Directions Report which outlines the priorities identified by the stakeholders and speaks to what CIHI will be pursuing over the next four years in our efforts to serve their needs.
  • Annual Report which provides an overview of the organization, its corporate achievements of the past fiscal year, the priorities for the upcoming year and a summary of the audited financial statements.
  • CIHI Directions which is released three times a year to give the public insight at the work that CIHI is accomplishing.
  • Product and Services Guide which assists clients and stakeholders in obtaining various relevant information on the products and services that CIHI offers.

The Product and Services guide cover topics such as:

CIHI also promotes the understanding and use of its data, standards and methods through online tools as well as a variety of workshops, courses and conferences.

Databases

CIHI manages a number of Canadian health databases. These include:


The Health Personnel Database

  • National Physician Database (NPDB)
  • Registered Nurses Database (RNDB)
  • Pharmacist Database (PDB)
  • Occupational Therapist Database (OTDB)
  • Medical Radiation Technologist Database (MRTDB)
  • Medical Laboratory Technologist Database (MLTDB)
  • Physiotherapist Database (PTDB)
  • Scott’s Medical Database (SMD)


CIHI Health Spending Databases

  • Canadian Management Information System Database (CMDB)
  • National Health Expenditure Database (NHEX)


Other

  • Discharge Abstract Database (DAD)
  • National Rehabilitation Reporting System (NRS)
  • National Prescription Drug Utilization Information System (NPDUIS)
  • Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Health Database (Canadian Segment)
  • National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS)
  • Canadian Joint Replacement Registry (CJRR)
  • National Trauma Registry (NTR)
  • Therapeutic Abortions Database (TADB)
  • Ontario Mental Health Reporting System (OMHRS)
  • Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB)
  • National Health Expenditure Database (NHEX)
  • Canadian Organ Replacement Register (CORR)
  • Continuing Care Reporting System (CCRS)
  • Hospital Mental Health Database (HMHDB)
  • Canadian Management Information System Database (CMDB)


Canadian Population Health Initiative (CPHI)

The Canadian Population Health Initiative is a significant component of CIHI's outreach strategy. The CPHI was created and integrated with CIHI in 1999 with funding from Health Canada as part of the Roadmap I project. CPHI's specific focus is expanding the public’s knowledge of population health issues by accomplishing two main goals: fostering a better understanding of factors that affect the health of individuals and communities; and contributing to the development of policies which reduce inequities and improve the health and well-being of Canadians. [3] CPHI achieves these goals mainly through funding population health research, gathering and analyzing population health data, and providing the public and policy-makers alike with numerous reports, presentations, and other publications.[4]

CPHI reports are released regularly in its main publication Improving the Health of Canadians alongside Health of the Nation, an e-newsletter that was launched in February 2004 in conjunction with the organization's flagship series.[5] In addition to these regular reports, CPHI has also released numerous other publications and products covering a range of topics that have been identified by CPHI as priority issues throughout its history. From 2004 to 2007, CPHI reporting focused mainly on the issues of obesity, place and health, and youth health. Between 2007 and 2010, CPHI's priority themes included mental health, gaps and inequalities in health care services, geographical disparities in health, and promoting healthy weights. [6]

Electronic Health Records

In 2003 Canada Health Infoway Inc. (Infoway) and the Canadian Institute for Health Information signed a Memorandum of Understanding that formalized a partnership to develop and maintain standards required in support of Electronic Health Record (EHR) data definitions and standards in Canada.[7] Infoway led the development of EHR Solution standards and acted as the overall program manager for EHR standards-related work, whereas CIHI's operated as the preferred partner in the development of these standards.[8] CIHI's role also encompassed continued responsibility for data definitions, content standards and classification systems because of CIHI's widely recognized role as leader in the development of health informatics standards and records, and its record of successful collaborations with other health organizations in Canada.[9] This initiative was aimed mainly at improving primary health care (PHC) in Canada, the most commonly experienced type of health care among Canadians.[10] Interoperable EMRs are intended to assist in ensuring that PHC clinicians have timely and relevant information necessary to deliver, coordinate and administer care.[11] Additionally, EMR information generated at the point of service can also be used to support quality improvement initiatives, such as clinical program management, research, and monitoring the health of the population, as well as to improve the efficiency of the health care system overall.[12]

CIHI led the project and achieved a major milestone in 2011 with the establishment of the Draft Pan-Canadian Primary Health Care Electronic Medical Record Content Standard.[13] The PHC EMR CS consists of 106 data elements that are commonly found in EMRs, used to support both primary uses of EMR data, such as reminders and alerts for patients with chronic conditions, and health system uses, such as a jurisdictional diabetes management registry. Moving forward, CIHI and its partners' plans include establishing more products and services that facilitate the adoption and implementation of the PHC EMR CS in addition to enacting strategies and plans for the longer-term governance and maintenance of the PHC EMR CS so that it remains clinically and technically relevant in the future.[14]

CIHI as a Research Tool

CIHI uses data from governments and hospitals across Canada to determine comparative statistics and costing algorithms that are available for use by healthcare ministries, hospital boards and the general public. According to former CIHI president and CEO Richard Alvarez, CIHI's scope of research and data tracking is wide-ranging and broad.[15] In a 2000 interview, Alvarez said of CIHI : "You name it, we track it," including subjects such as physician migration patterns, availability of nurses, supply and demand of organs, and survival rates for transplant patients.[16] For example, in 2000 CIHI determined that the rate of caesarean births in different regions of the country varied from a low of 12% to a high of 28%.[17] This CIHI generated information was then used by hospital boards to measure themselves against the national and international benchmark (15% in 2000).[18]

A 2009 study in the journal Chronic Diseases in Canada compared perinatal information in the CIHI’s Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) with information found in a range a smaller clinically focused databases. According to findings of the researches, CIHI's DAD data compared favourably with the other databases and proved accurate for many of the diagnoses/procedures examined.[19] The authors of the report concluded by supporting the use of the data in the CIHI DAD for national perinatal surveillance and research, with a caveat that appropriate inference rest on an understanding of clinical practice and the use of sensitivity analyses to identify robust findings.[20]

Privacy and Security

CIHI ensures the confidentiality, integrity and availability of its health information through a comprehensive and integrated privacy and security program. Its Privacy and Security Framework outlines how the organization approaches data governance, and maintains privacy and security protection. CIHI enacts numerous policies and practices to prohibit personal identification, one key policy being strict levels of data suppression.

In the past, some news media outlets have raised concerns about the safety of personal health records in large medical/science databases like CIHI. In 2001, a Toronto Star article expressed fears that large health information vendors like CIHI could potentially leak the private health information of Canadians.[21] The article suggested that the identities of individuals who had abortions and profiles of the mentally ill could potentially be leaked from CIHI’s databases if proper security practices were not in place.[22] The article also surmised that the greatest danger to patient and research subject privacy was the possibility of CIHI’s health information being compromised through involvement with commercial entities.[23] However, the findings of a three year review by the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) published in a 2008 report allayed some of these concerns and largely supported CIHI’s assertion that the orginization's security policies, procedures and protocols ensure high standards of privacy protection. [24] According to the report, the "IPC is satisfied that CIHI continues to have in place practices and procedures that sufficiently protect the privacy of individuals whose personal health information it receives and that sufficiently maintain the confidentiality of that information," and that as of October 31, 2008, the IPC was satisfied that CIHI met the requirements of the Personal Health Information Protection Act.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2005). Improving the health of young Canadians - Canadian Population Health Initiative. Retrieved from CIHI website: http://www.cmha.ca/data/1/rec_docs/452_IHYC05_webRepENG.pdf
  2. ^ Statistics Canada. (2011, October 25). About the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-221-x/2011002/abc-eng.htm
  3. ^ Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2005). Improving the health of young Canadians - Canadian Population Health Initiative. Retrieved from CIHI website: http://www.cmha.ca/data/1/rec_docs/452_IHYC05_webRepENG.pdf
  4. ^ Canadian Institute of Health Information. (2002). Canadian Population Health Initiative brief - The commission on the future of health care in Canada . Retrieved from CIHI website: http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/en/downloads/cphi_policy_romanowbrief_e.pdf
  5. ^ Canadian Institute for Health InformaitIon. (2012). Canadian Population Health Initiative - About CPHI. Retrieved from http://www.cihi.ca/CIHI-ext-portal/internet/en/document/factors+influencing+health/environmental/cphi_about
  6. ^ Ibid.
  7. ^ Canadian Health Infoway. (2003, May 23). Canada Health Infoway and the Canadian Institute for Health Information formalize relationship to work together on standards for electronic health record systems. Retrieved from https://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/lang-en/about-infoway/news/news-releases/84-canada-health-infoway-and-the-canadian-institute-for-health-information-formalize-relationship-to-work-together-on-standards-for-electronic-health-record-systems
  8. ^ Ibid.
  9. ^ Ibid.
  10. ^ Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2011). Draft pan-Canadian primary health care electronic medical record content standard, version 2.0. Retrieved from http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/products/PHC_EMR_ContentStandards_E.pdf
  11. ^ Ibid.
  12. ^ Ibid.
  13. ^ Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2011). Draft pan-Canadian primary health care electronic medical record content standard, version 2.0. Retrieved from http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/products/PHC_EMR_ContentStandards_E.pdf
  14. ^ Ibid.
  15. ^ Bauer, G. (2000). Who’s who in healthcare: Government category. Canadian Healthcare Manager, 7(6), 39-39. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.qa.proquest.com/docview/205825183?accountid=14771
  16. ^ Ibid.
  17. ^ Ibid.
  18. ^ Ibid.
  19. ^ Josephs, K., & Fahey, J. (2009). Validation of perinatal data in the discharge abstract database of the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Chronic Diseases in Canada, 29(3), 96-100.
  20. ^ Ibid.
  21. ^ Hamilton, T. (2001, January 8). Up for sale: Your secret health files. The Toronto Star.
  22. ^ Ibid.
  23. ^ Ibid
  24. ^ Cavoukian, A. (2008, October). Report of the information & privacy commissioner/Ontario - review of the Canadian institute for health information: A prescribed entity under the personal health information protection act. Retrieved from http://www.ipc.on.ca/images/Findings/2008-ent-cihi.pdf
  25. ^ Ibid.
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