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General help and FAQ

General inquiries? Technical difficulties? Live help?

ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨provides support to users of our website Monday to Friday (except statutory holidays), from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. If you’re experiencing issues or need assistance accessing applications and services, please contact us:

613-241-5543
help@cihi.ca

Frequently Asked Questions

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Accessing Our Services
  • Requesting access

    Once you have created a ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨profile, you can request access to restricted ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨applications. Log in to your ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨profile and click Request Access: New/Revoke in the left-hand navigation menu. You can request or revoke access for yourself or others within your organization by completing the mandatory information. You will need to select the program, service, request type and role (if required). For most of our services, you will also need to provide your organization identifier(s) so we can authenticate and process your request.

    Please log in to your ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨profile to submit a request for access, or contact us at help@cihi.ca for more information. 

  • Learning Centre

    °ä±õ±á±õ’s offers a large number of educational products and services. The courses cover, among other things, how to code data, how to submit data to CIHI, how to use °ä±õ±á±õ’s reports and how to use data for decision-making.

    ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨delivers its education sessions through the following methods:

    • Web conferences: Live, online interactive presentations with discussion
    • Workshops: Face-to-face interactive sessions at locations across Canada
    • Self-study: Interactive elearning courses
    • Downloadable documents
    • Online web conference recordings with learning assessments (where applicable)

    Non–Core Plan users are subject to °ä±õ±á±õ’s Learning Centre pricing policy. Read more on our Information for learners page.

    Visit our Events and Education page for additional information or email help@cihi.ca.

    eStore

    °ä±õ±á±õ’s eStore offers access to °ä±õ±á±õ’s products, publications, instruction manuals and other tools. Access to some eStore products is restricted to clients whose organizations have signed a service agreement with CIHI.

    The quantities provided through the Core Plan to health care facilities are determined by the health care facility type, the total number of beds and the annual volume of case abstracts. Some Core Plan elements are subject to confidentiality and privacy restrictions, and are provided taking into account any imposed limitation.

  • ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨ information software vendors

    ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨develops standards and specifications to support the collection and submission of data. Licences are extended to health information software vendors to access and use this information to develop computer software products that support data collection and submission. For their software to collect and submit data to CIHI, software vendors must first be licensed by ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨and then have their software products successfully pass °ä±õ±á±õ’s testing requirements.

    Licensing

    A health information software vendor that wishes to access and use °ä±õ±á±õ’s product specifications and standards to develop computer software products is required to have a signed licence agreement in place with CIHI. °ä±õ±á±õ’s ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨ Information Standards and Specifications Agreement (HISSA) governs ongoing access to and use of °ä±õ±á±õ’s product specifications. In addition to signing the HISSA, software vendors are also required to complete an annual subscription process to access and use these products. Software vendors with a signed HISSA that have subscribed to the products are considered licensed ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨commercial customers.

    For more information on becoming a licensed ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨commercial customer, email help@cihi.ca.

    Testing

    All health information software vendors are required to test any software product they have developed for submitting data to ensure that it meets °ä±õ±á±õ’s requirements, standards and specifications prior to live data submission. As well, certain product specifications may require testing on an annual basis or following a change, correction or update.

    For more information on this process, email help@cihi.ca.

    ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨ information software vendors by data holding

    ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨is neutral and does not recommend, endorse or support any specific health information software vendors. However, software vendors that have signed a HISSA are in good standing with CIHI. Vendors with software that has passed °ä±õ±á±õ’s testing requirements are listed on °ä±õ±á±õ’s website for reference purposes.

    View health information software vendors that have successfully completed testing for the following data holdings:

    Contact us

    For more information about health information software vendors, email help@cihi.ca 

Requesting Data
  • What is the data request process at CIHI?

    The data request process involves 5 key steps:

    1. Submit inquiry to CIHI
    2. Assess request (by CIHI)
    3. Finalize specifications, documentation and approvals
    4. Process and verify data
    5. Release data (and ultimately destroy data, for third-party record-level requests)
  • What is the purpose of the Data Inquiry Form?

    The online Data Inquiry Form provides a centralized entry point for data requests and allows ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨to assess client needs prior to completing any formal documentation or approvals.

  • Will ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨help with my analysis?

    ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨staff can provide advice on the structure and content of the data requested. You should consult a research advisor regarding statistical analysis.

Data Storage, Retention and Secure Destruction
  • What is secure destruction and how is this standard met?

    Secure destruction of record-level data refers to the destruction of the data in such a manner that reconstruction is not reasonably foreseeable in the circumstances, as defined in Section 18 of the Non-Disclosure/Confidentiality Agreement. Industry best practices for the secure destruction of data are constantly evolving; this is particularly true for data in electronic format. For general information about secure destruction methods, please review the . This fact sheet includes suggested best practices for the destruction of personal information. More information about °ä±õ±á±õ’s current secure destruction requirements is available upon request.

If you have a disability and would like ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨information in a different format, visit our Accessibility page.