• Topic
  • Published
  • Updated

Mental health and substance use

Mental health and substance use jtseng_master

Mental illness and substance use affect many Canadians at some point in their lifetime. In recognition of their impact on individuals, families, communities and care systems, we provide data and information to guide decisions on clinical care, system management and policy related to mental health and substance use.

Featured material

Measuring access to priority health services

  • Release summary
  • November 30, 2023
Explore the latest products related to new pan-Canadian indicators about access to home and community care and to mental health and substance use services.

Indicators

See all indicators

Releases and results

See all reports and releases

Mental health and substance use: Overview

Mental health and substance use: Overview jtseng_master

CIHI collaborates with federal, provincial/territorial (FPT), regional and other stakeholders to identify and address mental health and substance use information needs and priorities. We support the development, reporting and use of timely and comparable data related to this topic.

Making a difference in the mental health and substance use sector

To address the growing need for timely access to mental health and substance use services, we are working to develop and report on a set of pan-Canadian indicators that focus on measuring access to mental health and substance use services and to home and community care.

We also support the implementation and use of comprehensive and standardized clinical assessments in mental health and substance use care. The assessments are part of a suite of interRAI tools, including the Resident Assessment Instrument–Mental Health (RAI-MH) for inpatient mental health care and the interRAI Community Mental Health (interRAI CMH) for community-based care. Information that is captured during the assessment process contributes to clinical care planning and system-level decision-making.
 

Databases and data sources

CIHI manages 2 databases that are dedicated to inpatient mental health and substance use services: the Hospital Mental Health and Substance Use (HMHSU) Data Asset and the Ontario Mental Health Reporting System (OMHRS).

The HMHSU includes pan-Canadian demographic, administrative and diagnosis information. It integrates information from multiple CIHI data sources to focus on hospitalizations with a main diagnosis of mental illness or substance use.

OMHRS contains comprehensive information on individuals who receive inpatient mental health services in selected provinces. OMHRS data is derived from clinical assessments based on the RAI-MH.

Many of CIHI’s other data holdings contain data relevant to mental health and substance use, such as information about the health workforce, pharmaceuticals and spending.

Contact us

Mental health and substance use: Reports and releases

Mental health and substance use: Reports and releases jtseng_master

This page lists mental health and substance use reports, stories, infographics and release summaries.

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COVID-19’s impact on hospital services

  • Report
  • Published
Discover how hospital care was affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, including cancelled surgeries, hospital admissions, ICU admissions and ventilation needs.

Mental health and substance use: Data tables

Mental health and substance use: Data tables jtseng_master

This page contains a list of data tables that provide data and information about mental health and substance use.

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Commonwealth Fund Survey 2016: Data Tables (XLSX)

  • Data tables
  • Published
The 2016 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey focused on the experiences of the general population (adults 18 and older) in 11 developed countries.

Mental health and substance use: Indicators

Mental health and substance use: Indicators jtseng_master

This page contains a list of CIHI’s mental health and substance use indicators.

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Self-Harm, Including Suicide

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator provides the rate of self-harm hospitalizations and self-harm deaths (suicides). Lower rates are desirable as they signal less frequent severe self-harm.

Hospitalizations Entirely Caused by Alcohol

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator provides the age-standardized rate of hospitalizations with conditions that are wholly (100%) attributable to alcohol, per 100,000 population age 10 and older.

Mental health and substance use: Tools

Mental health and substance use: Tools jtseng_master

This page lists CIHI’s performance reporting tools that contain mental health and substance use data.

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There are currently no results for this topic.

Mental health and substance use: Data holdings

Mental health and substance use: Data holdings jtseng_master

CIHI manages 2 databases that are dedicated to inpatient mental health and substance use services: the Hospital Mental Health and Substance Use (HMHSU) Data Asset and the Ontario Mental Health Reporting System (OMHRS). This page lists other data holdings that contain data relevant to mental health and substance use, such as information about the health workforce, pharmaceuticals and spending.

Hospital mental health data update: Transitioning from HMHDB to HMHSU Data Asset

As part of CIHI’s data modernization strategy, we are transitioning to the newly developed Hospital Mental Health and Substance Use (HMHSU) Data Asset. CIHI’s hospital mental health data that was previously available through the Hospital Mental Health Database (HMHDB) is now available through the HMHSU Data Asset.

Please email specializedcare@cihi.ca with any questions about these changes.

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There are currently no results for this topic.

Mental health and substance use: News and podcasts

Mental health and substance use: News and podcasts jtseng_master

Understand the key messages in CIHI’s recently published data releases by exploring our media releases, bulletins and podcast episodes featuring updates about mental health and substance use.

Showing 11 to 20 of 20 results

Becoming the Patient — Dr. Alex Mihailidis

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this English episode of the CHIP, we spoke to Dr. Alex Mihailidis from the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute about his experience recovering from an accident that landed him in his own facility.

Unintended harms: How CIHI is helping Canadians receive safer care

  • Bulletin
  • Published
Health systems across the country continuously strive to make Canadian health care safer. Learn how we help these efforts through an interview with Yana Gurevich, manager of Health Indicators and Client Support, and Mélanie Josée Davidson, director of…

Mental health and substance use: Education resources

Mental health and substance use: Education resources jtseng_master

Through our Learning Centre, CIHI provides opportunities for health professionals to understand our evolving reporting systems and the application of our standards, data and analytics. We offer many courses and resources for a variety of audiences, including clinicians, assessors, data submitters and analysts, decision-makers, policy planners and researchers.

Courses and resources are available in a variety of formats, including eLearning modules, PDF and page-based documents, live and recorded web conferences, and videos.

On this page:

 

Learning opportunities

Resources offered through the Learning Centre include the following: 

 

Access CIHI’s Learning Centre

Discover whether you can learn for free!

Simply log in with your CIHI profile and prices will adjust to reflect your entitlements.

Log in 

New user?

Create a CIHI profile so our system can recognize your organization’s entitlements. By doing so, you will get a Learning Centre account — no extra steps needed!

Create a profile 

Browse our catalogues

With 300 learning products in a variety of areas, we’re sure to have something that meets your needs — and our online courses will always fit your schedule.

Visit the Education page 

Other education resources

Resources offered through CIHI include the following:

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Understand everyone's role

  • Information sheet
  • Published
interRAI, CIHI, your software vendor and your organization all have roles and responsibilities when it comes to choosing a vendor

Canadian Coding Standards for ICD-10-CA and CCI

  • User guide
  • Published
This manual supplements the classification rules inherent in the ICD-10-CA and the Canadian Classification of Health Interventions (CCI) by providing additional information that could not be embedded into the classifications.