NLIS 7
May 16, 2000
(Health and Community Services)

NLCHI to build a provincial client registry

Today the Minister of Health and Community Services, Roger Grimes and Andrew Grant, chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information's (NLCHI) Board of

Management, announced that NLCHI will begin the final work necessary to create a provincial client registry. The goal of the Unique Personal Identifier/Client Registry project is to provide better access to accurate and timely information for physicians, nurses and other health

service providers to assist with the treatment of patients and clients, and to improve the overall quality of health services.

"I am pleased to re-state government's commitment to vision of a health information network for the province by providing approval for the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information to proceed with the remaining work on the Unique Personal Identifier project," said

Minister Grimes. "This work, at a cost of approximately $3 million, will allow the centre to create a provincial client registry which will facilitate reliable tracking of an individual's interaction with health services and will enable secure linkages and cross-referencing of information about an individual stored in different health databases."

"NLCHI, along with its private sector partners: SmartHealth, ZeddComm, xwave solutions, and Jane Helleur & Associates (SmartHealth Consortium), have been working as a team since August 1998 preparing the ground work for the HIN", said Andrew Grant. "We are pleased to have the opportunity to start realizing the vision the team has created to improve the use of information in the health system." Mr. Grant confirmed that NLCHI will issue a Request for Proposal based upon the UPI/Client Registry Project Scope submitted to the Department of Health and Community Services in February 2000.

The development of a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) and a Client Registry is the cornerstone of the HIN. The Client Registry is an information system which will hold accurate demographic information about all people using health services in the province.

It will include name, address, date of birth and MCP eligibility status. The Client Registry will hold information about all people. To do this, each person will be given a Unique Personal Identifier number when he or she first accesses the health system, whether it is at birth or on a

one-time visit by a tourist to the province.

The MCP number will act as the Unique Personal Identifier for all people eligible for coverage under MCP. However, the Client Registry will create a "shadow number" for each person regardless of MCP eligibility. This "shadow number" will be used for communication among the various information systems used in the health sector, particularly the Meditech system in hospitals and Client and Referral Management System in Health and Community Services offices.

The registry will draw upon data in the existing MCP database, some of the health boards' databases, and contact with residents to create a registry of valid demographic information about each resident of the province. The UPI/Client Registry itself will not link any personal health information about individuals held by the regional health boards and others. It will facilitate the linking and exchange of information in the future components of the Health Information Network, which will be built in stages over the next seven to 10 years.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information (NLCHI) was established by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1996 to assist individuals, communities, service providers and policy makers in making informed decisions to enhance health and well-being in the province. By working with service providers, government, consumers and the private sector, NLCHI is planning the development of a comprehensive and integrated information network for the health and social sectors.

Media contacts:

Lucinda McDonald, Director of Communications, Newfoundland and Labrador, Centre for Health Information, (709) 737-4691

Carl Cooper, Director of Communications, Department of Health and Community Services, (709) 729-1377.

2000 05 16                                                 2:30 p.m.