Ontario Digital Health Drug Repository – HL7® FHIR® Implementation Guide
As a key element of the provincial Electronic Health Record (EHR), the Digital Health Drug Repository (DHDR) is an electronic repository of drug and pharmacy service information. The DHDR currently includes records relating to publicly funded drugs and pharmacy services and all monitored drugs, regardless of payor. The DHDR is being expanded to include hospital administered drug information, community dispensed drug, and pharmacy service information for all people in Ontario directly from new data sources (hospital and community pharmacies) on a go-forward basis starting in early 2024.
Information in the DHDR improves patient care and outcomes by allowing patients, individuals authorized by patients, and health care providers secure electronic access to an individual’s drug and pharmacy service information when and where needed. This enables safer and more-informed patient-provider discussions and decision-making, decreases the risk of adverse drug events, and improves the patient and provider experience.
The DHDR establishes the foundations (centralized repository, infrastructure and webservices) for sharing information on drugs and pharmacy services. This means patients and health care providers can access this information securely and efficiently through point of service systems.
Scope
The Ontario Digital Health Drug Repository HL7 FHIR Implementation Guide is built on HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard Release 4. The implementation guide is intended to be used by implementers of digital health assets that support provision of clinical information at the point of care. It provides guidance on how to create and share drug and pharmacy sevices information using FHIR and terminology standards. It also describes system actors and interactions required to create, update, and share drug and pharmacy sevices information between point of service systems and the DHDR.
The Ontario DHDR HL7 FHIR Implementation Guide specifies profiles for the following FHIR resources:
- Medication
- MedicationDispense
- MedicationRequest
- MedicationAdministration
- Organization
- Patient
- Practitioner
- PractitionerRole
- Location
- Encounter
- Composition
The guide is a web-based specification hosted on the Canadian FHIR Registry powered by SIMPLIFIER.NET*. The reader will be re-directed to the implementation guide’s home page on the Canadian FHIR Registry website after registering and clicking the “Agree and Download” button.
Status
This implementation guide is for trial use and has gone through a formal governance committee review and approval process resulting in a balloted draft status at this time.
To address the feedback received from Open Review, a new version of the DHDR Implementation Guide v4.0.1 is available for public access.
Currently FHIR R4 is mixed normative and standards for trial use so additional changes by HL7 are expected. We will continue to monitor developments and assess any potential impacts and publish updates as they emerge.
*SIMPLIFIER.NET is a web-based FHIR registry built by Firely that serves as the hosting platform for the Canadian FHIR Registry sponsored by Canada Health Infoway.
Status
January 29, 2024
Version 4.0.1 now available for public access
May 23, 2023
Version 4.0.0 now available for public access
June 19, 2020
Update provided to Ontario EHR Architecture & Standards Business & Technical Committee
May 28, 2020
Update provided to Ontario EHR Architecture & Standards Strategic Committee
February 19, 2020
Update provided to Ontario EHR Architecture & Standards Business & Technical Committee
August 16, 2017
Approved by Ontario EHR Architecture at the Standards Business & Technical Committee
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Approved by Ontario EHR Architecture at the Standards Strategic Committee