Background
BC-CPCSSN is one of several primary care research networks across Canada that contribute data to CPCSSN, the first and only pan-Canadian multi-disease electronic medical record (EMR) surveillance system. CPCSSN’s goals are to use these data to improve delivery of primary care, chronic disease surveillance and management, and research.
BC-CPCSSN was established in 2008 and has approval from the University of British Columbia Research Ethics Board. It is funded through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Michael Smith Health Research BC.
Objective
BC-CPCSSN is a primary care information platform designed to inform innovations that will improve the overall health of Canadians.
Mission
To collect data from primary care EMRs that can then be used for multiple purposes, including:
- Clinical practice improvement
e.g., sharing CPCSSN-generated reports with healthcare providers, researchers, healthcare planners and governments will ideally lead to improved primary care services in BC and Canada - Communicable and chronic disease surveillance and management
e.g., clinicians’ EMR data is cleaned using validated case definitions for chronic conditions and provided back to clinicians. - Health system planning
e.g., facilitating the implementation of primary care networks (PCN) across BC by tracking patient journeys within the health care system. - Research
e.g., linking BC-CPCSSN data with other sources of data such as hospital admissions or Medical Services Plan (MSP) billing can answer many health-related research questions.
Governance
BC-CPCSSN is part of the BC Primary Health Care Research Network (BC-PHCRN) which is in turn part of the Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN) funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
BC Primary Health Care Research Network 