Primary Health Care Electronic Health Records: A National Study on Needs, Gaps, and Opportunities

Despite an increased interest in primary health care (PHC) electronic health records (EHR) in Canada, levels of use are relatively low. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, have led the way in utilizing PHC EHRs. The proposed project will assess the current state, and future potential, of PHC EHR use for policy-making (including strategic planning and program implementation), clinical care, and research in Canada. Due to the importance of PHC to the health care system, and its connections with other sectors of the system, we focus on EHR use in PHC in this proposal. Primary health care is important to the health care system because of its role as the foundation of the system, as the entry point and connector to care, and the fact that there are many more patient visits per day in PHC compared to those in specialist care. Nonetheless, there is a gap in PHC EHR research in Canada. The Canada-wide research team assembled for the project will have two main tasks to address the project objectives: 1) conduct an environmental scan, and 2) implement a collaborative consultation process to identify goals for PHC EHR use, and create strategies to address these goals. This project will contribute to the realization of the full potential of PHC EHR use in Canada by identifying priority areas for improvement and change.