The following terms appear throughout the PS-CA Specifications:

Term / AcronymMeaning
Business/Legal Interoperability RequirementsRequirements that enable independent organizations to execute a collaborative process or service. 
Business Requirements: TestableBusiness requirements that are directly traceable to an IHE profile in the PS-CA specifications.

Business Requirements: Non-Testable

Business requirements that are not directly traceable to an IHE profile in the PS-CA specifications (e.g., provided for consideration and to support and provide guidance to implementers of the PS-CA)
Clinical Data eXchange (CDX)

CDX is a clinical distribution service developed by Interior Health. Northern Health (NH) and Interior Health (IH) have collaborated to facilitate the sharing of Health Authority clinical information to participating provider EMR systems using this service.

(Sources: https://infocentral.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/resources/docs/coordofcare/1406-clinical-document-exchange-bc-cdx-technical-overview-coc-sep27-16

https://www.intrahealth.com/sites/default/files/docs/Clinical-Data-eXchange-communication-from-Intrahealth-and-CDX-Team.pdf)

Cross Border, Scheduled CareScheduled care of a resident of Canada that is delivered in/by another country. 
Cross Border, Unscheduled CareUnscheduled care of a resident of Canada that is delivered in/by another country. 
Document Repository (Local or Central)A document repository is a shared storage space for clinical documents (Patient Summaries) that can be hosted locally (e.g. at the document producer) or at the IHE Central Infrastructure and can be accessed by authorized users.
Electronic Health Record (EHR)

The EHR represents the Clinical Solution that contains a secure and private collection of a patient's health information in a digital format, which is shareable across different health care settings / clinical solutions that are integrated. The EHR facilitates better sharing and interpretation of health information among the health care professionals involved in the care of the patient. For example:

  • CareConnect is British Columbia's secure, view-only Electronic Health Record (EHR) solution. It offers healthcare providers access to an integrated, provincial view of patient-centric information available 24/7 to support the delivery of patient care.
  • HEALTHe NL is the Newfoundland & Labrador provincial EHR. HEALTHe NL will provide more accurate and reliable data to support improved health care delivery, decision-making and policy and create improved accountability, stability and efficiency in the provincial health care system. 
  • Netcare is Alberta's name for all the projects related to the provincial Electronic Health Record (EHR) - a secure and confidential electronic system of Alberta patients’ health information: a single, comprehensive, and integrated patient record.
  • Other clinical systems: In some health authorities, other clinical systems may act as an EHR, holding the patient summary information.
Extensible PS-CA Dataset

Extensible PS-CA Dataset: PS-CA content that can be extended for use in a PS-CA use case scenario that complements the primary PS-CA use cases.

*Note: Extensible PS-CA Dataset refers to the addition of data domains such as Family History.

HCPHealth Care Provider
Health Information Access Layer (HIAL)

An interface specification for the EHR infostructure that defines service components, service roles, information model and messaging standards required for the exchange of EHR data and execution of interoperability profiles between EHR services.

(Source:https://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/component/edocman/resources/technical-documents/391-ehrs-blueprint-v2-full ; Page.340)

Health Records SystemA health records system may include an electronic medical records system, a hospital information system, a clinical information system, an electronic health records system or a personal health records system. The term is broadly used to describe system actors that may produce and/or consume a PS-CA. Jurisdictional implementation patterns will determine which systems are used to create, access, consume and manage patient summaries. 
HISHealth Information System
Health Level 7 (HL7)

Founded in 1987, HL7 is a not-for-profit standards developing organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services. (Source: http://www.hl7.org/about/index.cfm?ref=nav)

HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)Expected to be a next generation standards framework created by HL7. FHIR combines the best features of HL7‘s Version 2, Version 3 and product lines while leveraging the latest web standards and applying a tight focus on implementability (Source: http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/fhir/)
HIE Central InfrastructureA Health Information Exchange (HIE) Central Infrastructure connects participating health care organizations, providing shared services, portals and common data storage
Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)

IHE is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care. Systems developed in accordance with IHE communicate with one another better, are easier to implement, and enable care providers to use information more effectively.

(Source: https://www.ihe.net/)

IHE ActorIHE Actors are responsible for producing, managing and/or acting on information in the context of an IHE Profile (e.g., Primary Care Provider, EMR, EHR, etc., )
(Source: https://wiki.ihe.net/index.php/Actors)
IHE DomainIHE Domains are responsible for the development and maintenance of the IHE Technical Frameworks that document the Integration Profiles. Each Domain manages Integration Profiles in a particular part of healthcare (e.g., Virtual Care)
(Source: https://wiki.ihe.net/index.php/Domains)
IHE ProfilesIHE Profiles describe specific solutions to interoperability problems. Profiles specify how "Actors" use standards to address a specific healthcare use case (e.g., Medication, Allergy Intolerance, etc.,)
(Source: https://wiki.ihe.net/index.php/Profiles)
IHE Transactions

IHE Transactions are interactions between actors that communicate the required information through standards-based messages. (e.g., patient look-up query, send patient summary information, etc.,)

(Source: https://wiki.ihe.net/index.php/PCC_TF-1/About)
Information/Semantic Interoperability RequirementsRequirements for syntax and semantics such that data exchanged between health record systems can be interpreted and the meaning of the data ascertained. 
International Patient Summary (IPS)

The IPS is a a minimal, non-exhaustive set of data elements defined by ISO/EN 17269 and realized by HL7 in both CDA and FHIR. The IPS is a snapshot clinical document that can be used for planned or unplanned care of a person locally or across borders. It emphasizes the data required and the necessary conformance of the use cases for an international patient summary.

(Source: https://wiki.ihe.net/index.php/International_Patient_Summary_(IPS))

Local, Scheduled CareScheduled care of a resident of Canada that is delivered in/by the Canadian health care system. This includes care provided in federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions, as well as cross-jurisdictional care. 
Local, Unscheduled CareUnscheduled care of a resident of Canada that is delivered in/by the Canadian health care system. This includes care provided in federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions, as well as cross-jurisdictional care. 

Alberta Netcare is the name for all the projects related to the provincial Electronic Health Record (EHR) - a secure and confidential electronic system of Alberta patients’ health information: a single, comprehensive, and integrated patient record.

The EHR stores information about:

  • laboratory tests, 
  • dispenses of pharmaceuticals (drugs),
  • hospital discharge reports, and 
  • diagnostic imaging
Patient PortalA patient portal is a web-based access point that enables secure patient access to personal health information and other self-serve health IT services
Patient ProxyAn individual or entity that has the authority to act on behalf of a subject of care/patient. Proxies can include parents of dependent children, parents of dependent adults, powers of attorney etc.  

Patient Summary-CA (PS-CA)

An electronic patient summary for use at the point of care comprised of, at minimum, the required elements of the Patient Summary-CA data set and specifications. The PS-CA is a health record extract, at a snapshot in time, comprised of a standardized collection of clinical and contextual information (retrospective, concurrent, prospective), including the minimum necessary and sufficient data to inform a patient's treatment at the point of care. The PS-CA is condition-independent and speciality-agnostic, irrespective of the condition of the patient or the treatment sought or specialty of the provider delivering care.

Patient Summary-CA SolutionAny combination of health information technology assets and processes that enables a Patient Summary-CA to be created, communicated, managed and dispositioned between a PS-CA Producer and a PA-CS Consumer. Patient Summary-CA Solutions can be comprised of various Producer and Consumer systems including: EMR, HIS, CIS, PHR, EHR or any combination of these systems.
PS-CA Specifications

Pan-Canadian Patient Summary Interoperability Specifications: The Pan-Canadian Patient Summary Interoperability Specification is an implementable, testable specification, based on the IHE International Patient Summary specification. For more information on the PS-CA Specifications, please go here.

PS-CA AuthorA health care provider who authors and/or curates a PS-CA.
PS-CA ConsumerA health records system (e.g. EMR, HIS, CIS, PHR, or EHR) that enables access to or receipt of a Patient Summary-CA by an authorized health care provider or the subject of care/patient. 
PS-CA ProducerA health records system (e.g. EMR, HIS, CIS, PHR, or EHR) that creates/produces a Patient Summary-CA in response to a request from an authorized health care provider, the subject of care or another authorized health records system. 
Technical Interoperability Requirements Requirements for one health record system to send data to another health record system and for the receiving system to acknowledge receipt of the data payload. 
TerminologyCollection of uniquely identifiable concepts with associated representations, designations, associations and meanings. 


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