Connect Care Data Conversion

Data conversion is about how historical health information is selected and managed for transfer from legacy information systems to the Connect Care clinical information system (CIS). Considerations include which information to transfer, how it should be transformed, how much to include, and how to make it accessible.

The conversion of data transferred from legacy systems to the CIS started in early 2018 and will be completed by the Wave 1 launch in November 2019, providing physicians and clinicians with the information they need for decision-making and patient care. Connect Care Groundwork and Scoping Recommendations helped set the conversion project scope. Appropriate data types were prioritized into three tiers based on clinical value and conversion effort.

• Tier 1 includes allergies, encounters (admissions, transfers and discharges), imaging, labs and problem lists. Work on converting these data types has begun.
• Tier 2 and Tier 3 data types are still being finalized by the conversion team. Details will be released as they become available. 

Based on this analysis, a conversion list describes systems that will be integrated and data types that will be converted. No important clinical data will be lost during the migration to Connect Care.

Before July 2017 several clinical data types were not consistently defined using measures or ranges standardized across Alberta. Accordingly, July 2017 serves as the default start date for data conversion into the Connect Care CIS. Other systems, including Alberta Netcare (launched directly into the right chart) will make historical data accessible to clinicians.

A 1-page ‘Byte’ and a more detailed ‘FAQ’ provide information about Application Integration and Data Conversion, both available on Insite and the Connect Care Clinician Handbook.

• Key Concept: Integration-Interoperation-Interfacing
• Glossary: Integration & Conversion
• Byte: Data Conversion
• FAQ: Data Conversion