Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

Health systems in transition Canada 35
support the development and implementation of electronic health technologies
– including electronic health and medical records – and electronic public health
surveillance systems. Similar to CIHI, all F/P/T governments including Quebec
are members of Canada Health Infoway. The 2003 First Ministers’ Accord on
Health Care Renewal provided additional funding for Canada Health Infoway
to stimulate new telehealth initiatives. Infoway acts as a national umbrella
organization to facilitate the interoperability of existing F/P/T electronic health
information initiatives. Infoway released a common framework and standards
blueprint, first in 2003 and subsequently revised in 2006, for EHR development
(Canada Health Infoway, 2003, 2006).
The origins of the Health Council of Canada can be found in the final
recommendations of the Romanow Commission and the Senate Committee
reports of 2002, although the general idea of establishing a pan-Canadian, arm’s
length policy advisory body has a longer history (Adams, 2001; Romanow, 2002;
Senate of Canada, 2002). The Health Council was established in 2003 without
the participation of the provincial governments of Quebec and Alberta, although
Alberta subsequently joined in 2012. The board of the Health Council is chaired
by an individual nominated by consensus of the participating F/P/T ministers
of health. The remaining members of the board are based on the nominations of
each participating government. The mandate of the Health Council of Canada
is to monitor and report on the implementation of commitments made in F/P/T
health accords.
The Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) was created a year after its
establishment was recommended by the nongovernmental National Steering
Committee on Patient Safety (2002), an idea that was endorsed one year later
by first ministers (CICS, 2003). Funded largely by the federal government
and governed by a board made up of individuals appointed by participating
governments, CPSI was mandated to provide a leadership role in building a
culture of patient safety and quality improvement in Canada through promotion
of best practices and advising on effective strategies to improve patient safety.
Canadian Bloods Services (CBS) is a non-profit-making charitable
organization established by the provinces and territories in the late 1990s in
response to a tainted blood controversy and the exit of the Canadian Red Cross
from the management of blood products and services in Canada (Rock, 2000).
Although funded by the participating provinces and territories, CBS is governed
at arm’s length from all participating provincial–territorial (P/T) governments.