Hi Dennis,

Interesting - I'd like to discuss further. I'll reach out directly to set up a time and ensure there's a full understanding of what’s available from Health Canada.

Kind regards,
Seema

Thanks for the comments on drug availability and class standards. Unfortunately the drug information available on federal government sites is woefully inadequate for the FHIR application we are developing but an association we have formed with Vigilance Sante will provide a Canadian solution from the principal experts in the area. Clarification on, for example, where the Firely SDK stands with respect to FHIR discussions on this site and those with governments that I have been party to is most comforting as it means there is one source for the class objects so central to development.

Hi Dennis,

To answer your question as to where you can access a download of all available Canadian DINs, please see this link for the Health Canada Drug Product Database (DPD) Data Extract:
DPD Data Extract

If you are also looking for Natural Health Products, you can access the Health Canada Licensed Natural Health Product Database (LNHPD) Data Extract at this link:
LNHPD Data Extract
Please note the LNHPD Data Extract does not appear to be updated as frequently as the DPD Data Extract.

In the Read me files for both, there is a Health Canada contact link if you have any questions regarding the Data Extracts.

Hope this helps,
Seema

There are no Canadian exceptions (and can't be). If a country wishes to call their implementation FHIR conformant, it must fully comply with the international specification, no variation permitted. However, countries can define extensions and set constraints on things like what elements and extensions need to be present, what terminologies need to be used, etc. None of that will change any of the base classes. In theory, you could define derived classes that enforced the Canadian constraints, but that's a challenging endeavor and, to my knowledge, not one that many, if any, has done successfully.

Thus far, all Canadian implementation has focused on R4. R5 is still in development and not stable and therefore not really suitable for implementation. Once it comes out in a year or so, I expect there'll be some discussion around when/if to migrate to it.

Terminology is typically retrieved as FHIR resources from a terminology server (https://tgateway.infoway-inforoute.ca/). I know the Infoway tx server can source CCDD codes. I'm not sure whether it provides DINs as well.


Lloyd

I am developing a FHIR/Mongodb application so community pharmacy has a tool to accept, support, and communicate treatment goals. I'm working in C# and Python with the R4 FHIR SDK library from Firely and have meetings with the Ministry of Health groups in BC that are involved with planning. I'm not missing documentation on standards, discussions of changes, etc. I'm missing actual things to use and someone who knows the details of how SDK FHIR classes should be utilized to meet a consistent national Canadian solution.

For example, if Canadian exceptions to the international R4 version are to be had, where is the class library I can download to use them or what are the specific attribute changes in R4 classes to incorporate them? Or are they in the international R5? Where is the national Medication database using DINs that I can download as a csv (or similar) file to use in my application (as referenced from the Request and Dispense medication resources). Companies specializing in FHIR C#, Python, and Java dictionaries support the international standard, what is the solution here?

There are a number of other low-level detail questions that need answering but those will do for a start.