General Canadian FHIR Baseline Feedback

I have to admit I am skeptical if there is value to a Canadian baseline, I see it more as baseline(s) relating to a use case family, so yes there will be several and in a couple of the baselines there will possibly be a unique Canadian context.

There will be Canadian value sets but that is expected and to me that is not a baseline but a profile issue, maybe I am missing something?

That being said I agree it's a good conversation starter.

Hi Ken,

Thank you very much for the comments and questions.

I completely agree with all the points mentioned below and this an excellent conversation starter.

If you notice, we changed the title of the project a while ago to "Canadian Baseline Example" as we wanted to get people talking about topics such as a baseline and it's governance. So to answer your question, Infoway will not be owning it. It is merely a platform to get the conversation started.

For example, At the last solution architecture meeting, we discussed the need for aboriginal status and Shamil from B.C health services is in the midst of providing valuesets and a possible extension that will be up for discussion.

"What are the gaps or deficiencies that are not addressed by the international HL7 standard that a Canadian baseline would?" - I think this is a great question for the community in general. Since FHIR is implementer focused, we are veering towards standardization via implementation and in that case a baseline seems like a plausible solution. This is a good discussion for the next Solution Architecture meeting.

The purpose of the project is to encourage the community in Canada to think and ask the very questions that you are asking and I think this is a great start.

Hi Joel,

eHealth Ontario has collated some general feedback regarding the Canadian FHIR Baseline.
Profile-specific feedback will be added to the particular profile issues/feedback pages.


Concept of a Canadian FHIR Baseline/Realm is good in theory but we hold reservations on proceeding with the development at this time for several reasons:
1. Not enough user experience/knowledge base to provide meaningful input. Input must be from all provinces to be of any real value.
2. A Canadian Realm FHIR standard will require maintenance and full commitment to a governance structure for it to be useful and widely adopted.
3. FHIR Resources are still largely at non-normative maturity levels. A baseline should wait until at least 75% of resources are normative

Additional questions for consideration:
1. What are the gaps or deficiencies that are not addressed by the international HL7 standard that a Canadian baseline would?
2. Is Canada Health Infoway owning/managing the Canadian baseline, or simply publishing it?
3. Is there vendor involvement or participation? Are there plans for vendor certification/conformance against the Canadian baseline?
4. What are the implications for conformance/non-conformance for provincial or other FHIR implementations?

Thank you!