Primary Care Data Portability
Making Anywhere Access to Patient Data Possible
In today's digital world, seamless access to health information is essential for better, more efficient care. Data portability ensures that your health records move with you, securely, and effortlessly, across different systems and providers. Whether transitioning between specialists, hospitals, or provinces, having the right information at the right time enhances coordination, reduces delays, and empowers both patients and clincians.
About Primary Care Data Portability
What Is Data Portability?
Data portability is the ability to securely transfer information between systems. In healthcare, it ensures that patient data can move seamlessly between different health information systems, enabling better communication and collaboration among care providers.
Why Is Data Portability Important?
Portable data ensures that, no matter where you are in Canada, your health information can be securely shared between healthcare professionals and clinics. This improves care coordination and patient outcomes.
A connected digital healthcare system empowers you to actively participate in your care. Collaboration between healthcare systems, clinicians, and patients reduces unnecessary or duplicative tests, shortens wait times and hospital stays, and saves lives by ensuring critical information is available when it’s needed most.
Currently, while some health systems allow patients to access their own data, they don’t always support communication between other practices or hospitals. That’s why Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) is working with governments, clinicians, vendors, and healthcare technology experts to develop standards that allow health information systems to communication with one another, share important health data, and support effective collaboration between patients and healthcare providers.
Benefits
Data portability makes it easier to access and share vital patient information, leading to faster, more coordinated care. It reduces delays, enhances patient safety, and empowers individuals to take a more active role in their health journey. Benefits include:
For Clinicians
- Enhancing collaboration and care coordination.
- Reducing administrative burden, saving time on repetitive tasks.
- Improving data quality to support informed decision-making and personalized treatments.
- Providing insights into population health trends through better data analysis.
For Patients
- Empowering access to personal health information for better health management and informed decisions.
- Supporting continuity of care with seamless data transfer between providers.
- Improving health outcomes by enabling better diagnosis and treatment plans.
For Jurisdictions
- Enabling seamless public service delivery through integrated systems.
- Facilitating data-driven policymaking, improving public health strategies.
- Enhancing inter-jurisdictional collaboration, resulting in coordinated healthcare initiatives.
For Vendors
- Supporting the development of trusted tools for managing health data securely.
- Expanding market reach through interoperability.
- Reducing complexity by easing data exchange between systems.
- Saving resources by avoiding the need to develop jurisdiction-specific products and allowing focus on innovation.
Access the CA Core+