Conformance Standards
Last updated on May 5, 2025Organizations that are developing interfaces to health information exchange (HIE) systems offered by the Ministry of Health must meet the Conformance Standards which the ministry publishes.
The Conformance, Integration & Standards (CIS) team facilitates and oversees the registration, connection, conformance testing, and certification processes required for applications to connect to the Ministry HIE services. The conformance standards are a collection of general and system-specific documents.
The conformance standards for developing interfaces to the HIE systems include:
- Business rules
- Application enforced rules
- Privacy and security rules
- Training guidelines
- Technical specifications for data transmission
The latest published version of the BC conformance standards is v3.6. You will need both the general documents and system-specific documents to complete the conformance activities for integration. You can download the entire packages for each system or individual files in the following sections.
Downloadable packages
Download the conformance package of documents relevant to a specific system:
- PharmaNet (ZIP, 7.4MB)
- Provincial Client Registry (PCR) (ZIP, 3.4MB)
- Provider and Location Registry (PLR) (ZIP, 3.2MB)
The following list of files include general documents that apply to all of the ministry’s HIE systems.
- BC Conformance Standards - Release Notes (PDF, 410KB)
- Glossary of Terms (PDF, 726KB): Defines key terms, acronyms, and abbreviations in the Conformance Standards
- Volume 1 – Overview and Conformance Processes (PDF, 691KB): Provides an overview of integration with ministry systems; outlines the content of the conformance volume set; and explains the processes and requirements for organizations to access ministry HIE systems
- Volume 2 – Privacy and Security (PDF, 612KB): Describes the information privacy and security rules that apply to all software applications integrating with ministry HIE systems
- Volume 3A: Business Rules - General (PDF, 548KB): Describes the general business, privacy, and security rules that apply to all points of service (POS) accessing and exchanging health information with the Ministry
- Volume 4A: Application Enforced Rules - General (PDF, 306KB): Describes the general rules and controls required of applications interfacing to the ministry’s HIE systems
- Volume 3C: Business Rules – PharmaNet (PDF, 1.4MB)
- Volume 4C: Application Enforced Rules – PharmaNet (PDF, 1.6MB)
- BC PharmaNet Terminology Worksheet
Note(s): Contact the CIS Team at HLTH.CISSupport@gov.bc.ca to request a copy - PharmaNet Implementation Guide (PDF, 1MB)
- Volume 4C: Technical Supplement - PharmaNet Message Specifications (PDF, 3MB)
- Volume 5C: API Gateway (PDF, 496KB)
- BC PharmaNet Terminology Worksheet
- PharmaNet education materials used for training
- Policy for Secure Remote Access to PharmaNet v1.1 (PDF, 416KB): Rules that apply to end users accessing PharmaNet from a location outside a PharmaNet site, the requirements of their organizations and their PharmaNet software vendors
- Learn more about PharmaNet
- Volume 3B: Business Rules – Provincial Client Registry (PDF, 475KB)
- Volume 4B: Application Enforced Rules – Provincial Client Registry (PDF, 603KB)
- Technical specifications
- Provincial Client Registry Data and Best Practice Rules (WORD, 1.5MB)
- HCIM Web Application User Guide (WORD, 2.8MB)
- Learn more about PCR
For PCR specific questions, please contact the Registries Line of Business (RLOB) Help Desk at HLTH.REGISTRIESADMIN@gov.bc.ca or 250-952-9137
- Volume 3D: Business Rules – Provider & Location Registry (PDF, 401KB)
- Volume 4D: Application Enforced Rules – Provider & Location Registry (PDF, 433KB)
- Technical specifications
- PLR Web Application User Guide (PDF 3.0MB)
- Learn more about PLR
For PLR specific questions, please contact the Registries Line of Business (RLOB) Help Desk at HLTH.REGISTRIESADMIN@gov.bc.ca or 250-952-9137
The following development resources are available for services not included in the conformance standards:
For more information about the conformance standards, please contact the Conformance, Integration and Standards (CIS) team at: