Improving data quality and lessening the burden of data collection on health care providers has been a twin focus of the province's effort to address the system-wide need for better information management. These and other key objectives, such as closing information gaps, have been the impetus for a number of initiatives and activities that are currently underway. The overriding goal is to produce better information for use in health care planning, performance measurement, decision-making and research.

DIAMS is a new system designed to facilitate the management of data and the resolution of issues related to data quality. This information can then be used to prioritize issues and gaps for improvement, coordinate improvement activities and monitor progress in managing and/or resolving these issues.

For more information about this initiative, read the Backgrounder.

The Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care (HOBIC) initiative, formerly known as the Nursing and Health Outcomes Project (NHOP), involves the province-wide, standardized collection of patient health outcomes relating to four disciplines: nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy and physiotherapy.

Implementation of HOBIC will occur in stages, over a period of three years. In late 2006, nurses (RNs and RPNs) in 26 early adopter sites in the acute care, complex continuing care, long-term care and home care sectors, in two regions of the province will begin to assess patients, clients and residents according to a pre-determined set of evidence-based outcome measures.

For more information about this initiative, read the Backgrounder and see the HOBIC section of this site.

The Thinking About Gaps—Report on Information Management study underscores the need to reduce the burden of data collection and reporting at source. The Nursing Workload Measurement Project was established in response to this, to assess nursing workload data and the challenges faced by frontline staff collecting the information.

As a result, effective April 1, 2006, non-case costing hospitals in Ontario are no longer mandated by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to collect and report nursing workload measurement data.

Alternative cost allocation methods and a simpler reporting system for case costing hospitals are currently being developed for both the Ontario Cost Distribution methodology and the Ontario Case Costing methodology.

For more information about this initiative, read the Backgrounder.

At the beginning of June 2006, a new data repository called the Home Care Database (HCDB) was introduced to replace the Ontario Home Care Administrative System (OHCAS). By the end of 2006, it is anticipated that all community health care data will be included in this enhanced home care administrative system.

For more information about this initiative, read the Backgrounder.

This web-based meeting place is intended for health information management professionals. It is designed to foster the transfer of knowledge within the health information management community and facilitate the standardization of data through the sharing of common practices.

All health information professionals are encouraged to take advantage of this unique opportunity. The site can be accessed by going to www.himcop.ca.

For more information about this initiative, read the Backgrounder.

The e-Learning and Assessment Tool is a web-based learning tool that has been developed to provide health information management professionals with targeted education and assessment of their coding skills and knowledge of core competencies in submitting data to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) databases.

PPeAT consists of nine modules with refreshers on coding concepts and assessments of their coding skills and knowledge in each module.

For more information about this initiative, read the Backgrounder.

Backgrounders are provided in PDF format. To view PDF format files, you need to have Adobe Acrobat® Reader installed on your computer.    You can download this free software from the Adobe Web site.

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