by June Kaminski, RN MSN PhD(c)
Editor in Chief
Citation: Kaminski, J. (2024). Editorial. Why is Interoperability so important to Canadians? Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 19(2). https://cjni.net/journal/?p=13106
Editorial
Anyone who has been involved in electronic health record (EHR) implementation and usage knows that interoperability is key to offering connected, accessible care. Interoperability has become a buzzword and a panacea for filling the gaps and barriers that have compromised and limited digital information and data for decades. All the flexibility needed to truly offer personalized, connected care for all Canadians comes down to one key system characteristic: interoperability.
Benefits of Interoperability
Interoperability provides seamless integration between systems that should but do not currently communicate well with each other. It provides access to client data across platforms for both healthcare providers and the clients themselves. It supports continuity of care across interdisciplinary health teams regardless of location.
Canada Health Infoway (2024) offers a brilliant, user-friendly dynamic outline of how interoperability benefits Canadians through their overview: The Path to Connected Care at https://connectedcare.infoway-inforoute.ca/ It reinforces how interoperability is the heart of seamless connected care.
Interoperability provides several benefits to clients, healthcare providers, the health system, and the healthcare informatics industry (Canada Health Infoway, 2023). Table 1 summarizes some of these benefits.
Table 1
Benefits of Interoperability
Affleck et al. (2024) emphasized the importance of technical interoperability as well as human factor interoperability. “Human factor interoperability involves the system-level relationships that impact the capacity of health sector stakeholders to adopt harmonized health data standards and technology. The seven domains of human factor interoperability are governance, legislation, policy, regulation, literacy, communication and culture” (p. 51).
This focus encourages a “harmonized person-centric approach to health data interoperability” (p. 52); the call for regulatory processes that mandate interoperability in all systems adopted in Canada; transparent, broad and clear communication amongst all stakeholders; and a “culture of trust and accountability to interoperability” (p. 52). This approach should feel familiar to all informatics experts, since human factors have always been an integral part of system implementation. It is no surprise that it is also a crucial part of true interoperability across systems.
Plans for Interoperability
In May 2023, Canada Health Infoway released a Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap to outline a five-year plan for achieving this vision for connected care by investing in new interoperability processes and breakthroughs.
“As we forge ahead to address current challenges and enable the advancement of pan-Canadian interoperability, we must continue to remind ourselves that the driving force is to support connected care in order to enable a healthier Canada and healthier Canadians” (Canada Health Infoway, 2023, p. 16).
This Roadmap is focused on four key goals:
- Reduce data blocking and ease portability
- Improve provider access to patient data at the point of care
- Enable patient access to their health record
- Improve care coordination and collaboration (Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI), 2024, p. 1).
The Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) is also working with Canada Health Infoway and other partners to address Canadian healthcare interoperability needs. “CIHI has an important role in defining and standardizing the health data that will be exchanged, which is the first building block in the roadmap. The health data content and the associated architecture that CIHI is developing is called the Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework” (CIHI, 2024a, p. 1). The CIHI is currently inviting input from Canadians on this data content framework (as of June 2024) – nurses and health informatics experts are encouraged to explore the documents and provide your feedback to CIHI.
To solidify this move to effectively improve interoperability in Canada, the Minister of Health introduced Bill C-72 on June 6, 2024, an Act that supports the interoperability of health technology and inhibits data blocking by vendors. This new Act is also called the Connected Care for Canadians Act (Siddell and Caldwell, 2024).
This Act serves as a regulatory directive that will support interoperability in Canadian healthcare systems by reducing some of the most blatant barriers to seamless integration of information across systems in Canada. It is important that health authorities, organizations, informatics leaders, and vendors work together to ensure this Act is upheld and gaps/barriers are addressed (Minister of Health, 2024). Together, these initiatives can help the Canadian healthcare system fully develop an interoperable healthcare information system that truly meets the needs of Canadians.
References
Affleck, E., Sutherland, E., Lindeman, C., Golonka, R., Price, T., Murphy, T., Williamson, T., Chapman, A., Layton, A., & Fraser, C. (2024). Human factor health data interoperability. Healthcare Papers, 21(4), 47–55. https://doi.org/10.12927/hcpap.2024.27272
Canada Health Infoway. (2024). The Path to Connected Care. https://connectedcare.infoway-inforoute.ca/
Canada Health Infoway. (2023). Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap. https://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/component/edocman/6444-connecting-you-to-modern-health-care-shared-pan-canadian-interoperability-roadmap/view-document?Itemid=101
Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2024a). Connected care. https://www.cihi.ca/en/connected-care
Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2024b). Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework. https://www.cihi.ca/en/connected-care/pan-canadian-health-data-content-framework
Minister of Health. (2024). Bill C-72: An Act respecting the interoperability of health information technology and to prohibit data blocking by health information technology vendors: Connected Care for Canadians Act. House of Commons of Canada. https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-72/first-reading
Siddell, D. & Caldwell, M. (2024). Access, Interoperability, and Innovation: An Introduction to Canada’s Bill C-72, the Connected Care for Canadians Act. McCarthy Tetrault, LLP. https://www.mccarthy.ca/en/insights/blogs/techlex/access-interoperability-and-innovation-introduction-canadas-bill-c-72-connected-care-canadians-act
