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E-HEALTH 

CACDS is a leader and recognized stakeholder in the policy development and implementation of provincial e-health initiatives — including e-prescribing, drug information systems (DIS), electronic health records (eHR) and standards as they impact the business and practice of community pharmacy.

A key component of this leadership is the promotion of standards and the harmonization of provincial e-health initiatives by providing advice to jurisdictions implementing a DIS, while simultaneously working to limit the negative impacts of e-health projects on pharmacy workflow.

On behalf of community pharmacy and pharmacy software vendors, CACDS advocates for pharmacy compensation to offset the cost of developing and maintaining e-health initiatives. CACDS e-health objectives include:

• Enabling the implementation of technology for improved patient outcomes and efficiency gains in the health care process
• Ensuring that the implementation of e-health initiatives and approaches reflect industry capabilities, and minimally, negatively impact pharmacy workflow
• Supporting the adoption of pan-Canadian systems and standards

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Community pharmacy business models are changing with an increased emphasis on professional pharmacy services. To help facilitate this transition, CACDS is working with vendors and stakeholders to develop standardized technology enablers which will increase efficiency.

Currently, CACDS is undertaking two projects as part of an Integrated Technology Solutions initiative, intended to partially address the fragmentation and lack of harmonization in today’s pharmacy electronic landscape.

The first is an e-prescribing feasibility study, to be used to develop a framework of necessary pre-conditions for implementation of a single pan-Canadian e-prescribing service.

The second project is the development of an integrated pan-Canadian clinical services platform.  This platform will both facilitate the implementation of pharmacy services across Canada, and demonstrate the value of enhanced pharmacy services – to both patients and the overall healthcare system.