More topics

Health Information and Interoperability Standards Catalogue

Last updated on December 12, 2023

The Health Information Standards (HIS) catalogue introduces current provincially endorsed standards for use by those implementing and integrating with:

  • Clinical Information Systems (CIS)
  • Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
  • Pharmacy Management Systems (PMS)
  • Local terminology servers, and
  • Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) exchanges

Standards Status

The B.C. Health Information Standards are organized by status:

  • In Development: the standard is currently being developed.
  • Pending: the standard has been approved through the Health Information Standards governance process but is awaiting final publication.
  • Published: the standard is published and ready for implementation.
  • Deprecated: the standard is obsolete and not officially supported.

Standards

Use the links below to quickly find a standard you are looking for:

Ministry HIE Systems Conformance Standards
Domain Description Status
Client Registry The standard used to exchange information with the authoritative registry of health care client demographic information in B.C. Published
Provider & Location Registry (PLR) The standard used to exchange information with the authoritative registry of B.C. health care providers’ demographic and professional information. Published
Provincial Lab Information Solution (PLIS) The standard used to exchange information with the provincial repository of diagnostic laboratory test results from private and public laboratories across B.C. Published
PharmaNet The standard used to exchange information with the provincial drug information and claims processing system that links all community pharmacies in B.C. Published

TOP 

Terminology Standards
Domain Description Status
Adverse Reaction Value Set Constrained set of Adverse Reaction values for use in B.C. In Development
B.C. Document Ontology (LOINC) Value Set The LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes) international standard for clinical document titles and lab tests for use in B.C. Published
B.C. Health Concerns and Diagnosis SNOMED CT® mapping Value Set The constrained B.C. Health Concerns and Diagnosis SNOMED CT® mapping to ICD-10-CA, ICD-9, and the CED-DxS terms. Published
Medical Imaging Terminology Set The B.C. provincial standard for Medical Imaging procedure codes and nomenclature and the mapped SNOMED Medical Imaging Terminology reference set for all publicly-funded medical imaging services Published
Medical Procedures Value Set Constrained set of Medical Procedure values for use in B.C. In Development
Medications Value Set Constrained set of medication values mapped from Health Canada Drug Product Database (DPD), the Canadian Clinical Drug Dataset (CCDD), and the B.C. Provincial Product Drug Dataset (PDDF).  Published
Minimum Immunization Data Set (MIDS) for Interoperability Update: This standard is no longer officially supported; continued use is strongly discouraged. Refer to the new Vaccine Catalogue and Value Set. Deprecated
Social Determinants of Health Value Set  Constrained set of SNOMED CT Social Determinants of Health values for use in B.C. In Development
Social History Value Set Constrained set of Social History values for use in B.C. In Development
Vaccine Catalogue and Value Set The B.C. Vaccine Catalogue and Value Set is aligned to and mirrors the Canadian Vaccine Catalogue (CVC) dataset which provides a comprehensive list of vaccine products available in B.C. and across Canada including information about the products, and standardized terminology. Published

TOP

B.C. Clinical Document Architecture Standards
Domain Description Status
B.C. Clinical Document Architecture Implementation Guide The B.C. Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) Implementation Guide outlines the provincial CDA template standards.

These standards facilitate the exchange of clinical documents to care providers across regions and across the continuum of care.

This document, along with the EMR-to-EMR Data Transfer and Conversion Standard contain all used CDA templates in B.C.

Additional CDA templates under development are listed below.		 Published
Cardiology Reports Distribution of three cardiology reports: Electrocardiography Test (ECG), Holter Test and Stress Test. CDA Level 3: Pending
Discharge Summary Discharge summaries serve as the primary documents communicating a patient's care plan to the post-hospital care team. CDA Level 3: Published
Medical Imaging Results or observations of medical imaging tests, distributed electronically in a CDA Level 3 format. CDA Level 3: In Development
EMR-to-EMR Data Transfer and Conversion Standard The EMR–to–EMR Data Transfer and Conversion Standard specifications support the standardized exchange of patient information between disparate electronic medical record (EMR) systems in support of various business processes including single patient chart transfers, conversions of multiple patient charts from one EMR to another as well as the exchange of episodic documents. Under Review

TOP 

 

B.C. Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Standards
Domain Description Status
B.C. Core Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Profiles The B.C. Core FHIR Profiles are aligned to and mirror the Canadian FHIR Baseline, published by HL7 Canada.  These profiles are intended to encourage and support the use of FHIR in B.C. within a Canadian context. Published

Data Standards
Domain Description Status
Clinical Information Model (CIM) The Clinical Information Model (CIM) is a blueprint of the B.C. digital health information system and its components; providing a common foundation for health data standards and a truly interoperable healthcare system. In Development
Date and Time Standard The Date and Time standard is meant to assist any B.C. health system provider capture, maintain and validate date and time for use within the B.C. health care community. Published
Demographic Standard The Demographic standard is meant to assist any B.C. health system provider capture, maintain and validate a link between a person’s identifying information and the demographic information used to locate or confirm the identity of a person. In Development
Gender and Sex Standard  The Gender and Sex Standard aims to provide consistency and guidance for gender and sex data information collection within British Columbia’s health care community. Published
Mailing & Delivery Address / Physical Address & Geocoding Standard  The Address Data Standards should be used by Point of Service (POS) users to ensure correct addressing standards are used when sending or uploading designated addresses to a ministry system. Published

TOP 

This link provides additional resources:

Contact information

For more information about Health Information Standards, please email the Health Information Standards team at:


HLTH.HISSupport@gov.bc.ca
To receive notifications when HIS standards are published, send an email to:
Note: Email addresses are collected under Section 26(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for the purpose of providing content updates.
 
Questions about the collection of email addresses can be directed to: