Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy Expert Advisory Group Report 1: Charting a Path toward Ambition
The Canadian College of Health Information Management and CHIMA has joined other thought leaders in an expert advisory group for the Public Health Agency of Canada’s pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy.
“As demonstrated during the first wave of COVID-19, and subsequent waves, significant gaps remain in Canada’s health data ecosystem, from timely reporting of basic data on individual cases and outbreaks, to genomic surveillance for new variants, or assessment of vaccine coverage, safety, and effectiveness in real-time. There is no doubt that our response to the pandemic has been severely limited as a result.
Numerous high-profile reports and recommendations over many decades have repeatedly outlined what needs to be done. We need to tackle the root causes of the problems that have plagued our ability to make progress toward a common aim for all Canadians. Put simply, our systems, processes and policies are geared towards an analog world, while we live in a digital age. To that end, an Expert Advisory Group, leveraging a cross section of experts from across the country, has been formed. This group has reviewed hundreds of reports and articles, some dating back to the 1960s, and deliberated on practical approaches to make progress.
This first report from the Expert Advisory Group articulates key findings from those deliberations including: establishing an ambition for Canada’s health data ecosystem, understanding the root causes that have prevented progress, highlighting opportunities from a revitalised approach, and developing a practical set of areas of focus and principles. These will be elaborated in future reports to guide the development of a pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy.”
Dr. Vivek Goel, Chair, pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy Expert Advisory Group
