Integrated Clinical System

Since 2001, the Health Information Solutions Centre (HISC) has been working with Saskatchewan's health regions to implement common, shared health care information systems through a program called Integrated Clinical Systems (ICS).

ICS deploys central patient index (CPI)/registration, home care, transcription , laboratory, pharmacy and clinical view systems. In some regions, this has meant upgrading existing systems, and in others, has meant the automation of processes that previously were being completely manually. The new systems are housed at the HISC high availability data centre and accessed by regional staff over the high-speed secure health information network.

Once there is a foundation of common systems, a clinical view system enables authorized health providers to view a summary of relevant information about their patients quickly and securely. Over time, the integrated clinical systems will mean that the accurate, timely, complete patient information needed to treat patients will be available to authorized care providers when and where they need it.

The ICS Program is governed by the ICS Sub-committee of the CIO Forum. Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) have been and continue to be consulted with implementation plans, and project selection is guided by the provincial health sector IT Plan. Each individual project implementation is agreed to by the RHA in a Letter of Understanding (LOU) outlining the scope, functionality, schedule, costs sharing and responsibilities of all parties (RHA, HISC, and Vendor). The RHA implementation team includes a Regional Delivery Manager, Project/System Champion, System Super Users and an IT contact that are responsible (guided and supported by HISC and the Vendor) for internal RHA communication and process change management.