General Help and FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Accessing Our Services
  • Once you have created a CIHI profile, you can request access to restricted CIHI applications. Log in to your CIHI 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 CIHI profile to submit a request for access, or contact us at help@cihi.ca for more information. 

  • CIHI’s Learning Centre 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 CIHI’s reports and how to use data for decision-making.

    CIHI 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 CIHI’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

    CIHI’s eStore offers access to CIHI’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.

  • CIHI develops standards and specifications to support the collection of data and its submission to us. 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. In order for their software to be used to collect data and submit it to CIHI, software vendors must first be licensed by CIHI and then have their software products successfully passed CIHI’s testing requirements.

    Licensing

    A health information software vendor that wishes to access and use CIHI’s product specifications and standards to develop computer software products is required to have a signed licence agreement in place with CIHI. CIHI’s Health Information Standards and Specifications Agreement (HISSA) governs ongoing access to and use of CIHI’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 CIHI commercial customers.

    For more information on becoming a licensed CIHI 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 CIHI’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.

    Health information software vendors by data holding

    CIHI 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, and whose software has passed CIHI’s testing requirements, are listed on CIHI’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
  • 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)
  • The online Data Inquiry Form provides a centralized entry point for data requests and allows CIHI to assess client needs prior to completing any formal documentation or approvals.

  • CIHI 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
  • 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 fact sheet available from the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (PDF). This fact sheet includes suggested best practices for the destruction of personal information. More information about CIHI’s current secure destruction requirements is available upon request.

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