Proposed changes to EncounterTypeCode subset

Hi Fariba - thank you for your response. It would be great if we could coordinate a short discussion between you, CIHI and Infoway to understand more about our respective use cases and next steps for this subset. If this sounds like a good approach to you, could you kindly contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I can organize a quick call?

Thank you again for your feedback and looking forward to discussing more.

Jacqueline Singer

Hi,

Ontario Health is leveraging this subset and values in several provincial standards.

Stakeholder feedback from our MHA- PDS implementation guide in open review indicates that granular concepts are required, and we will be looking to request more concepts to be added to this value set based on sector input.

Therefore, at this point we ask that, there be no deprecation for these concepts.

We would like to understand the use cases for these suggested `simplified` concepts in order to better assess potential impact to our interoperability standards.

The primary health care subset ‘EncounterTypeCode’ is currently under review and revision. CIHI is proposing to decrease the number of concepts that are members of the ‘EncounterTypeCode’ subset associated with the Visit Modality data element in the Pan-Canadian Primary Health Care EMR Minimum Data Set for Performance Measurement, version 1.0 .

The proposed changes include inactivating concepts from the subset and replacing them with simplified SNOMED CT terms (i.e. in-person encounter, telephone encounter).

We would like to confirm if the concepts that are candidate for inactivation from the subset are used outside of this subset. If that is the case, they would not be inactivated from the SNOMED CT Canadian Edition. If the concepts that are candidate for inactivation from the subset are not used otherwise, we propose to inactivate them from the SNOMED CT Canadian Edition as well.

The SNOMED CT concepts proposed to be inactivated include:
- Direct encounter with client alone (140182721000087101)
- Email with client alone (979296831000087107)
- Help line with client alone (783447471000087101)
- Telemedicine consultation with patient (448337001)
- Online call with client alone (856451561000087102)
- Mobile messaging with client alone (690545391000087106)
- Online chat with client alone (607437961000087101)
- Provider Portal with Client Alone (334935761000087109)
- Online call with video with client alone (804607021000087102)

We are planning to publish the updated subset as part of the SNOMED CT Canadian Edition publication which will be on released on March 31, 2022. We would appreciate feedback from the community before February 28, so we can act on them in time for the planned publication.

Before moving ahead with the proposed inactivation, we would like to confirm that there are no concerns or implications within your jurisdiction or EMR system. Please reply to this post or contact CIHI’s Primary Health Care Information team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions or concerns, before February 28.