First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) is seeking a cloud-based Lab Information System (LIS) that can record and host data from remote nursing stations (diagnostic sites) and seamlessly transmit it in real-time between the Provincial LIS (PLIS), provider Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system, and HealthGateway (a provincial patient data portal). The solution aims to provide healthcare providers with accurate, real-time access to comprehensive diagnostic data for improved decision-making and care outcomes, while also empowering First Nations patients by giving them access to their personal health information.
CAN Health is posting this Call for Innovation to seek out qualified Canadian companies who can meet the following desired outcomes. FNHA and CAN Health reserve the right to not move forward with this project at its full discretion and in particular if there are no qualified Canadian companies that can reasonably meet the desired outcomes.
To qualify for a CAN Health project, the company must meet ALL of the following criteria:
- Headquartered in Canada (additional criteria apply for companies not headquartered in Canada)
- Majority ownership of both the company and the solution by Canadians
- Solution at Technology Readiness Level (TRL)>7, indicating actual technology completed and qualified through tests and demonstrations
- All the data and AI models (if applicable) must be hosted in Canada and comply with all the Canadian privacy regulations
- Possess all regulatory approvals required for commercialization, such as Health Canada approval
- Completion of all required clinical validity/unity studies
- No need for policy changes to be widely adopted
- Strong use cases in the Canadian health care system
If the company is not headquartered in Canada or the solution is not majority owned by Canadians, additional criteria apply:
- Independent autonomy over business operations and product development (for subsidiaries, affiliates or distributors)
- High Canadian job creation potential, especially in executive and senior management positions
- Commitment of over 70% of contract value to Canada
During the company selection process, preference is given to companies/solutions fully owned by Canadians, followed by those majority owned by Canadians, and finally international companies with a significant presence and economic impact in Canada.
Problem Statement:
The reliance on outdated paper-based methods of recording and reporting diagnostic data in First Nations communities is inefficient, error-prone, and leads to incomplete health records, creating significant quality and safety risks.
Objectives:
FNHA seeks to enhance access to and the quality of healthcare data for First Nations communities through the integration of a cloud-based LIS. The LIS solution will improve the accuracy and completeness of patient health information, ensure seamless data flow across healthcare systems, and ultimately enhance patient care. The solution should be scalable to accommodate diverse community needs and sustainable for long-term healthcare improvements.
Essential (mandatory) outcomes:
The ideal LIS should meet the following requirements:
- Cloud-Hosted Centralized LIS: The solution must be a cloud-hosted, centralized and partitionable LIS capable of digitising all diagnostic results from remote nursing stations (diagnostic sites), while managing administrative, clinical and technical data.
- Data Privacy and Security: The LIS must support the creation of secure, partitioned instances at remote nursing stations, ensuring data privacy with restricted access for authorized individuals within the care pathway.
- HL7 Compliance and Streamlined Transmission: The system must be HL7 compliant and feature a streamlined, single-channel process for efficient data transmission to PLIS and provider EMRs.
- Real-Time Integration and Distribution: The LIS should enable real-time transmission of diagnostic results to the provincial level and ensure further distribution to HealthGateway for integration into patient records and easy access to essential health data.
Please see the graphic below about how the diagnostic data should be electronically transmitted between the various storage systems:
Additional outcomes:
FNHA expects the LIS solution to possess HL7 FHIR operability.
The maximum duration for a project resulting from this Challenge is: 9 months
FNHA is currently facing an information sharing challenge in the transmission of diagnostic laboratory results between PLISs, Provider EMRs, and ultimately, Health Gateway. The reliance on outdated paper-based methods of recording and reporting diagnostic data in First Nations communities is inefficient, error-prone, and leads to incomplete health records, creating significant quality and safety risks.
