Ontario Digital Health Drug Repository – HL7 FHIR Implementation Guide (Release Nov 2020)
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.
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
DHDR Point of Care System Access FHIR API – also known as DHDR Release 3 – built on the FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources ®) standard R4 base specification was designed for provider application use. DHDR Point of Care System Access FHIR API specifies profiles for the following FHIR resources:
- Medication
- MedicationDispense
- MedicationRequest
- Organization
- Patient
- Practitioner
This specification ensures all information technology systems that retrieve drug data from the DHDR can exchange and understand the content through standardized HL7 messages based on FHIR specification and terminologies.
Status
Currently FHIR Release 4 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. This specification is for reference by provider applications which are currently integrated with or are in process of integrating with the DHDR under the DHDR v3.0.8 specification. New implementations will be aligned to the most recent DHDR v4.0.1 specification.