1. The Status of Health IT in British Columbia Elaine McKnight

2. The Status of Health IT in British Columbia  Welcome to British Columbia and the 22nd Annual Health Level 7 Business Meeting and Plenary in Vancouver.  Elaine McKnight, Assistant Deputy Minister  Health Sector IM/IT Division  Ministry of Health

3. The Status of Health IT in British Columbia  BC has been a strong supporter of HL7 since the early 1990’s.  We strongly believe that it is through standards such as HL7 that we can realize the vision of health information being  accessible where it is needed  when it is needed  in a secure and confidential manner That is central to our BC’s Health IT programs.

4. History of HL7 in BC  BC began using HL7 with the design of PharmaNet in 1992.  It was founded on HL7 to enable point of service access to pharmacies.  In 1995, we deployed PharmaNet province wide. Today it  handles 50 million transactions annually  enables providers in the province to access medication profiles  conduct drug interaction checks  process co-insurance claims  All in a secure manner that protects citizens’ privacy.

5. History of HL7 in BC  In the late 1990’s we used HL7 to enable access to the provincial health client registry – the registry that contains basic demographic information for all individuals who have received health services in the province.  We also used HL7 to enable access to public medical service insurance eligibility checking.

6. History of HL7 in BC  In the early 2000’s, BC developed a provider registry application for use by four western Canadian provinces using HL7.  This provider registry message set now forms the international specification for provider registry interaction.

7. History of HL7 in BC  Beginning in 2003, British Columbia began the transition to HL7 Version 3.  We developed an expanded and enhanced client registry and enabled access using version 3 messages.  We added version 3 message support to the provider registry.

8. History of HL7 in BC  We were heavily involved in the Canada wide work on the version 3 message specifications for the electronic health record.  We continue to participate at the HL7 International level.

9. The Status of Health IT in British Columbia  What is BC doing today?

10. The Status of Health IT in British Columbia  We are working to provide an integrated, interoperable electronic systems…  To facilitate health care information being accessible, when and where it is needed.  To support personal health, health care decision making and health system sustainability.

11.  Focusing on collaboration and integrated planning and delivery  Integrated planning between the health authorities, the Ministry and provider organizations will ensure a focused, sustainable and responsible approach to realizing the eHealth vision  Integrated planning between BC and other provincial and national jurisdictions will enable Canada’s electronic health record, strengthening Canada’s health system The Status of Health IT in British Columbia

14. Building Today  With investment from Canada Health Infoway, we have launched a series of projects aimed at establishing provincial electronic health record facilities based on common standards that will be used across Canada.  HL7 Version 3 is a key foundational standard for these initiatives.

15. Building Today  We are undertaking major initiatives in the areas of common infrastructure, information repositories and point of service systems.

16. Building Today For common infrastructure we are building  a consistent, secure “front door” to electronic health record services that will provide consistent and secure HL7 Version 3 message handling  a series of integrated, secure health networks, to support message based provincial electronic health services

17. Building Today  We are working at a provincial level to develop identity management standards, policies and practices for both citizens and providers.  This common infrastructure will enable point of service systems from around the province to consistently and securely access an individual’s electronic health record.

18. Building Today For information repositories, we are  building the foundation that will form the electronic health record  implementing a lab results repository that will be capable of collecting and presenting and distributing lab test results

19. Building Today  Rebuilding the provincial pharmacy system to enable new features such as electronic prescribing.  We are implementing an immunization, diagnostic image and results repositories.  Our eventual goal is to enable electronic order entry throughout all services

20. Building Today  For point of service  We are developing a pan Canadian public health surveillance application in partnership with Canada Health Infoway.  It will enable management of: outbreaks, communicable disease cases, immunizations, vaccine inventories, health alerts, and related workflow.

21. Building Today  We are also implementing new public health point of service applications for surveillance, family health and health protection and integrating these into the provincial electronic health record infrastructure.  We are working with our provincial health authorities to integrate electronic health record services into local clinical and lab information systems.

22. Building Today  We are supporting the standardization of Electronic Medical Record applications within the province. Physicians have just begun to adopt these applications.  Over the next 2 years, we will begin to integrate these applications into the electronic health record infrastructure.

23. Building Today  We are working with software providers to enable integration of electronic health record services into point of service products.  We are building an integrated viewer, based on common web browser technology, to enable secure access to the electronic health record where this access is not supported by a point of service application.

24. Where do we want to go in the future?  We want to enable services directly to BC citizens.  We want to directly engage patients in their care, especially those with chronic disease.  We want information that can “close the loop” – that enables outcome assessment, policy and strategy development in a variety of settings from local practice to health system wide.

25. Where do we want to go in the future?  These next steps will help us improve and advance services for British Columbians.  We will take those steps more securely and more quickly by sharing and learning at venues like this.  Thank you.