CIHI has modernized the collection of data with the development of the Integrated interRAI Reporting System (IRRS, pronounced “iris”). IRRS captures comprehensive, standardized data about a person’s functioning, cognition, quality of life, services received and clinical management to support point-of-care, organizational and system decisions. IRRS offers near real-time validation, which improves quality and timeliness of data on all levels. 

interRAI assessments are used by health organizations to assess people at the point of care, generating real-time electronic reports that flag risks and inform care planning.

For more information, visit our web page Understanding interRAI LTCF, interRAI HC and interRAI CA. 

Want a quick overview? 

CIHI’s video Using the interRAI Assessment System provides a high-level look at how the system works to provide quality care across the continuum.

Watch this video on YouTube

CIHI has a long-standing partnership with interRAI, an international research network committed to developing clinical standards across a variety of health and social services settings.

CIHI’s interRAI Implementation Toolkit is designed to be a helpful resource for health care organizations that are implementing an interRAI assessment system. 

The toolkit is not meant to be prescriptive. Rather, it offers practical suggestions for organizations to consider. These suggestions are offered as is and without guarantees of any kind.

The copyrights in all interRAI assessment instruments belong to interRAI. The following interRAI user manuals are available for purchase through the interRAI Catalog.

• interRAI Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF) Assessment Form and User’s Manual, Canadian Edition, 9.1.4
• interRAI Home Care (HC) Assessment Form and User’s Manual, Canadian English Edition, 9.1.4
• interRAI Contact Assessment (CA) Form and User’s Manual: A Screening Level Assessment for Intake to Home and Community Care, interRAI Standard Edition, Version 10.0.1 

All interRAI instruments have core assessment items and use standardized language. This means that health information can be shared across sectors, organizations and jurisdictions in a consistent and reliable way.

The new enhanced and updated suite of interRAI assessment instruments

• Is more clinically relevant and easier to use
• Improves standardization by assessing a person’s status and needs using common criteria and language
• Provides clinical outputs to assist with care planning and resource allocation
• Improves the quality of care across health systems
• Provides evidence that is highly relevant to key questions facing decision-makers
• Allows for comparison of assessment data across provinces, territories and nations 

The interRAI CA is an assessment instrument that is used as a screener for home care intakes and referrals. The interRAI CA user’s manual can be purchased through the interRAI Catalog.

The interRAI CA assessment is an updated version of the Home Care Reporting System (HCRS) version, or HCRS-CA. You can refer to CIHI’s interRAI CA: What’s Different (PDF) job aid for information on clinical contrasts to the HCRS-CA. 

The interRAI HC is a comprehensive, standardized instrument for evaluating the needs, strengths and preferences of those who require home care services. The interRAI HC user’s manual can be purchased through the interRAI Catalog.

The interRAI HC assessment is a new assessment replacing the Resident Assessment Instrument–Home Care (RAI-HC). You can refer to CIHI’s interRAI HC: What’s Different (PDF) job aid for information on clinical contrasts to the RAI-HC. 

The interRAI LTCF is a comprehensive, standardized instrument for evaluating the needs, strengths and preferences of those in a LTC facility. The interRAI LTCF user’s manual can be purchased through the interRAI Catalog. 

The interRAI LTCF assessment is a new assessment replacing the Resident Assessment Instrument–Minimum Data Set 2.0 (RAI-MDS 2.0). You can refer to CIHI’s interRAI LTCF: What’s Different (PDF) job aid for information on clinical contrasts to the RAI-MDS 2.0. 

The different assessment types and how they are used together reflect a person’s encounter(s) as they transition in to and out of a facility or site. Here are the different assessment types supported in the Integrated interRAI Reporting System (IRRS).

• First assessment: To be completed at time of entry/admission. 
• Routine reassessment: A regularly scheduled follow-up assessment. 
• Return assessment: A full assessment that can be completed after a short, planned absence, either upon the person’s return or when due for the next scheduled assessment.
• Significant change in status reassessment: To be completed when a major change impacts the person’s health status and requires interdisciplinary review and/or revision of the care plan.
• Discharge assessment: A full assessment that is completed at the point of discharge. This assessment type may not be required by most jurisdictions where a discharge tracking only will suffice. Submission of a discharge assessment will close the person’s encounter.
• Discharge tracking only: Minimal administrative information that is completed at the point of discharge. This assessment type can be submitted to IRRS if the person dies before the first (admission) assessment is completed. Submission of a discharge tracking only will close the person’s encounter. 
• Other: Any assessment conducted for reasons such as quality assurance or clinical research. These assessments are not submitted to IRRS.

• The first assessment for the interRAI Home Care (HC) (Reason for Assessment A8/iA8 = 1) is done at the time of entry into the home care system. This assessment should be completed within 7 days of the person having been deemed eligible for long-term home care (i.e., long-term supportive or maintenance client groups).
• The first assessment for the interRAI Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF) (Reason for Assessment A8/iA8 = 1) is required by day 4 of the person’s stay. Jurisdictions may wish to set their own parameters for completion, but time to complete the assessment should not exceed 7 days. 
  • Note: This timeline is different from the timeline for Resident Assessment Instrument–Minimum Data Set 2.0 (RAI-MDS 2.0) assessments, where the admission assessment is required by day 14 of the person’s stay.
• There’s no need to submit a discharge assessment or tracking for residents or clients in the Continuing Care Reporting System (CCRS) or Home Care Reporting System (HCRS) in order for them to be transitioned to the interRAI LTCF or interRAI HC in IRRS. 

For reporting and good data quality, encounters should be closed in the Integrated interRAI Reporting System when a person has been discharged from a long-term care home/facility or home care organization by submitting either 

• A discharge assessment (Reason for Assessment A8/iA8 = 5), a full assessment completed for a planned discharge 
• A discharge tracking only (Reason for Assessment A8/iA8 = 6), minimal administrative information completed when discharged

Note: If a site/jurisdiction is transitioning to the new suite, there is no need to discharge the person from the legacy system (Continuing Care Reporting System [CCRS]/Home Care Reporting System [HCRS]) to start a new encounter in IRRS.

The completion of an interRAI assessment generates outputs that can be used at the individual or organizational level. These outputs include

• Clinical Assessment Protocols (CAPs)
• Outcome scales and algorithms
• Quality indicators
• Resource allocation methodologies (Case Mix Groups and Resource Utilization Groups)

Software vendors have access to the necessary specifications to build these into the software.

The use of clinical outputs (CAPs and outcome scales) informs individualized care planning by providing a foundation for creating and maintaining goals of care such as

• Facilitating referrals
• Initiating programs and services
• Doing discharge planning

Used on multiple occasions (when appropriate), these outputs support an outcome-based assessment of a person’s response to care or services. 

The data element Other Disease Diagnoses makes use of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, Canada (ICD-10-CA) codes that may require special consideration during implementation. 

Any diseases or infections not listed in item I1 (i.e., in Diseases in interRAI Home Care [HC] or in Disease Diagnoses in interRAI Long-Term Care Facilities [LTCF]) that are relevant to the person’s current activity of daily living status, cognitive status, mood or behaviour status, medical treatments, nursing monitoring or risk of death should be captured in item I2 (Other Disease Diagnoses). Do not include conditions that have been resolved or that no longer affect the person’s functioning or care needs. Certain outputs may be affected by items I1 and I2.

ICD-10-CA for the Integrated interRAI Reporting System (IRRS) enables licensed customers or commercial vendors to build ICD-10-CA look-up tables and validations into their software, which will reduce rejections and improve user experience. 

The assessment items for List of All Medications in section items N1 (interRAI LTCF) and M1 (interRAI HC) are optional to complete. Check with your jurisdiction to determine whether this item is to be completed. 

Please note: 

• The text field for Medication Name is not submitted to IRRS 
• The Drug Code (or Drug Identification Number [DIN]) must be provided if any of the following are completed for any medication listed: Dose, Unit, Route of Administration, Frequency or PRN 

Some jurisdictions across Canada use interRAI HC to assess persons in a hospital setting to inform discharge-planning decisions, particularly for placement in a residential care facility. 

There are coding standards related to the use of interRAI HC in a hospital setting. For example, some assessment items are conditional and are not completed if the assessment is conducted in a hospital, residential care facility or other setting such as a hospice or correctional facility. 

Job aid

CIHI has created a job aid to help with coding in this scenario: 

• interRAI Home Care (IRRS): Coding Guidelines for Completing the Assessment in Hospital, Residential Care Facility or Other Setting (PDF)

• CIHI can help your organization identify differences between older and newer interRAI standards.
• CIHI provides mappings and specifications for outputs.
• CIHI can help your organization develop a project plan for implementing the interRAI assessment system.
• CIHI provides ongoing education and job aids.
• CIHI can help you grow your supportive network by connecting you with other organizations that have already implemented interRAI assessments.
• CIHI can also provide ongoing support and expertise.

Conduct a readiness assessment by asking yourself the following questions.

• Where is your organization now when it comes to using interRAI assessments? Identifying the stage you are at will help you determine the scope of your implementation planning.
  • If you are currently using interRAI assessments but thinking about transitioning to a newer interRAI assessment system, the following may be helpful. 
    • interRAI Contact Assessment: What’s Different (PDF)
    • interRAI Home Care: What’s Different (PDF)
    • interRAI Long-Term Care Facilities: What’s Different (PDF)
• Are the interRAI assessment outputs being used to their fullest capacity in your organization?
  • Are they being used to plan care?
  • Are they being used for quality improvement purposes?
• Does the software support interRAI instruments?
• If using a commercial vendor product, has the software passed CIHI’s testing requirements?
• Are there competing priorities that may delay or put resource pressure on this implementation project?

Consider all that’s involved and assess your organization’s level of readiness to achieve the results, do the work and complete the project!

It may be helpful to develop a process pathway to map out your steps. 

You may also want to put together a project charter to help guide the transition.

Who has ownership/accountability for implementation — now and moving forward?

• Consider putting in place a governance and accountability structure or framework.
• A framework should be based on your organization’s configuration and should clearly outline who will take responsibility for future decisions related to resources and timelines.

How often will you evaluate? How will that be done? What will you evaluate and what measures will you use?

• Measuring client care: interRAI outcome scales and Clinical Assessment Protocols (CAPs) can be used to flag clinical issues, improve care planning and delivery of care, and provide a better quality of life.
• Measuring quality: Information from interRAI quality indicators can be used for peer comparisons and benchmarking.
• Measuring staff readiness and communication: The interRAI assessment system allows staff to engage in their full scope of practice, so improvements can be seen in team functioning, communication and morale.

What is needed to support the new system moving forward?

• Meeting ongoing education needs
• Resources (e.g., people, budget)
• Clearly defined expectations and timelines
• Collaboration, networks and activity hubs/communities of practice
• A move toward an electronic health record

• CIHI can provide support as you determine any potential changes to your business practice.
• CIHI can help assess your education needs and help identify the best learning pathway for your organization.
• CIHI can connect you to helpful resources — job aids, manuals, toolkits and more.

Implementing or transitioning to a new interRAI assessment system for the first time requires careful planning — and can impact organizational business processes.

Having a change management strategy in place can help with the transition. Start planning early. To be effective and meaningful, the plan should address issues related to

• Change in culture
  • Identify key individuals who can serve as positive change agents and promote the benefits of the transition to others.
• Change in business processes 
• Change in day-to-day operations
  • Consider the potential impact on current roles and how they may evolve with the adoption of the Integrated interRAI Reporting System (IRRS).
• The impact on clinical documentation
  • Provide robust preparation for staff, including appropriate documentation and support throughout the process. 
• Evaluation and process improvements

Have a team dedicated to the implementation project, with adequate time allocated to complete tasks. To maintain project timelines, avoid conflicting priorities and budget time for unforeseen circumstances.

The implementation project team should include representatives from business, clinical, technical and decision-support areas to ensure a well-rounded perspective and to incorporate lessons learned along the way.
 

Before you begin to submit interRAI assessment data to CIHI, it’s a good idea to develop a project plan that outlines activities, timelines and resources.

Your project plan can include

• If applicable, a timeline for transitioning from legacy data collection methods to interRAI Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF), interRAI Home Care (HC) and interRAI Contact Assessment (CA); establish dates for start of data collection using the interRAI suite and for submitting to the Integrated interRAI Reporting System (IRRS)
• An outline of the reporting expected and who is responsible
• A staffing plan that allows time for recruitment
• A list of the contracts to be prepared and when they need to be ready
• Scheduled training and education sessions on the interRAI assessments, vendor software and any business practice or workflow changes
• Administrative and logistic supports required
• Dates by which reports must be created and submitted to senior management
• A sustainability plan for change management/staff turnover
• Opportunities for sharing resources and expertise within your jurisdiction

For jurisdictions/organizations submitting to legacy systems, consideration should be given to when the older assessment training will stop and the cut-off date for completing the older assessment. 

Consider how much time should be provided to allow for corrections of previously submitted assessments, which can be made after the cut-off date. Discuss with your vendor if there are limits to the period for error correction.

CIHI recommends that jurisdictions/organizations explicitly communicate 

• A cut-off date for when the older version of assessments will be completed and submitted to the Home Care Reporting System (HCRS) and the Continuing Care Reporting System (CCRS) 
• A date for when interRAI LTCF, interRAI HC or interRAI CA assessments will be completed and submitted to IRRS

Keep in mind the decommissioning dates for HCRS and CCRS. Explicitly expressing expectations will help staff in preparing, implementing and following through with new business practices. 

Defining a cut-off date will prevent duplication of data submission to both CCRS/HCRS and IRRS.

Long-term care facilities should check with their jurisdiction to determine whether there are further directions regarding cut-off dates.

This will need to happen even if a person has previously been assessed using the Resident Assessment Instrument–Minimum Data Set 2.0 (RAI-MDS 2.0) or the Resident Assessment Instrument–Home Care (RAI-HC). 

This includes completing items in Section B (Intake and Initial History). Information captured in Section B of the interRAI assessment is used at a health system level to inform access to and delivery of care services. Every effort should be made to complete this section as accurately as possible. 

Once an initial assessment is completed, it is recommended that a routine reassessment (Reason for Assessment A8/iA8 = 2) be completed at regular intervals. For the interRAI HC, it is recommended to be completed within 6 months (and no longer than 12 months). For the interRAI LTCF, it is recommended to be completed every 3 months.

• Understand how the interRAI assessments differ from their predecessors (i.e., Home Care Reporting System — Contact Assessment [HCRS-CA], Resident Assessment Instrument–Home Care [RAI-HC] and Resident Assessment Instrument–Minimum Data Set 2.0 [RAI-MDS 2.0]).
• Take the approach that any interaction with the person is an opportunity for assessment.
  • Make the interRAI assessment part of team rounds and shift changes.
• Try to ensure that the assessor is familiar with the person being assessed and their family.
• Set up strategies for good communication within the organization.
  • Add assessments to white boards/flow sheets, identifying what needs to be completed.
  • Include discussions about the assessments in care conferences, team meetings and family meetings.
  • Encourage interdisciplinary teams to use the interRAI language in their day-to-day work.
• Use the information from the interRAI assessment as the structure for admissions, history notes and discharge planning.
• Encourage clinicians to use Clinical Assessment Protocols (CAPs) in care planning and to use outcomes in evaluating interventions, monitoring treatment and getting a sense of baseline clinical and functional status.
• Include interRAI assessments as part of new-hire orientations, yearly clinical competency reviews and even staff performance appraisals.

If your organization or jurisdiction wants to adopt and implement the interRAI assessment system, CIHI can provide resources and deliver training programs based on your assessed needs. 

We offer

• Facilitated web conferences and web-based self-study education and training
• Resources for educators and/or trainers
• Collaboration and expertise on building a train-the-trainer model that can be customized to your organization
• Ongoing support, including
  • Additional training (e.g., in data use, care planning and data submission)
  • Answers to clinical coding questions
  • Client Support Sessions
  • Access to CIHI expertise

Note: CIHI does not offer training about your vendor’s software. If you would like software training, be sure to include this as part of your conversations when developing a contract with your vendor. Include considerations for post-implementation training for new users and considerations for regular annual training.
 

• CIHI provides data submission requirements and supporting documents for the interRAI data standard to licensed CIHI vendors.
• CIHI offers expertise in testing the proposals and submissions you receive from vendors to ensure that they comply with specifications.
• CIHI provides additional information on acquiring a non-commercial vendor licence for organizations interested in becoming a non-commercial vendor.

Organizations do not incur any software costs from CIHI. Software/licensing fees are vendor-specific. Organizations should contact individual vendors for pricing information.

Vendor fees may depend on the number of licences that need to be purchased to accommodate staff who require access to the software.

Prior to the start of a fiscal year, CIHI distributes data submission requirements to software vendors. Vendors are then required to make changes to their software.

CIHI requires software vendors to test annually. The vendor testing process provides vendors with the opportunity to validate their systems prior to updating their applications.

Vendors must successfully complete the testing process before their clients can begin data submission to CIHI for a new fiscal year.

Access a list of commercial vendors that have successfully passed CIHI testing and that support the Integrated interRAI Reporting System (IRRS)

Additional information about requirements and related processes is available on the health information software vendors page of CIHI’s website.
 

Establish a collaborative relationship with your software vendor and/or software developer. Clarify your organization’s requirements for software vendor solutions and build them into the contract with the vendor/developer. For example, 

• The vendor must have an agreement with interRAI for use of the interRAI assessment. 
• The vendor must have a Health Information Standards and Specifications Agreement (HISSA) with CIHI and access to the IRRS specifications. 
• The vendor must build the solution to meet IRRS specifications. 
• The vendor is required to pass IRRS vendor conformance testing prior to its clients submitting data to CIHI. 

Note: The above considerations also apply when developing your non-commercial data collection and submission solution rather than using a commercial software vendor. If you are considering this option, contact us to discuss the best approach.

What’s the difference between an EHR and an electronic medical record (EMR)?

• An EHR is a longitudinal collection of the electronic health information of a person or population and can serve as an information source for an EMR.
• An EMR is a partial patient record. It is provider- or organization-centric and can serve as an information source for an EHR.

Before you begin integrating your interRAI assessment data into an EHR, you need to answer 6 questions:

1. How would systems (EMR, EHR, etc.) share data and assessment information?
2. What data sharing standard will be used to move the information among systems? Some examples of data sharing standards include
   • HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA)
   • HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR)
3. Where would the data and assessment information be stored? For example, is the information stored in a centralized repository similar to the Acute and Community Care Clinical Data Repository in Ontario?
4. Which components of the EHR are available to use in your jurisdiction?
   • Client registry: For client demographics
   • Provider registry: For provider demographics
   • Consent registry: For consent information
   • Drug information system (DIS): For drugs/medication history
   • Panorama/public health surveillance: For immunization history
   • Jurisdictional laboratory information system (JLIS): For laboratory results
   • Shared health record (SHR): For observations/health conditions (e.g., allergies, diagnoses, social behaviours, social history, treatments, procedures)
5. What client demographic data from an EHR can be used to autopopulate an interRAI assessment (e.g., information from the client registry)?
6. What data from interRAI assessments can be used to populate EHR components (e.g., outcome scales such as Pain Scale, Depression Rating Scale)?
    

These tools can support workflow design and help determine business processes.

Single sign-in

Having identity management tools/platforms simplifies access to client information and removes the need for separate login credentials for each system. 

With a single sign-in process, a user logs in once and can access a range of applications through multiple channels without having to log in again during that session.
 

Security and privacy policies

The security and privacy needs for delivering interdisciplinary health care services across and between care settings, organizations and disciplines can be complex. Clearly defined security and privacy policies need to be in place in the areas of

• Accountability for personal health information
• Identifying purposes for the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information
• Consent
• Accuracy of personal health information
• Safeguards for the protection of personal health information
• Individual access to personal health information

More information can be found in Canada Health Infoway’s Privacy and Security Requirements and Considerations for Digital Health Solutions.
 

Clinical and specification requirements

Online tools such as InfoScribe from Canada Health Infoway are available to help you develop your clinical and specification requirements.

Terminology and classification standards

Terminology and classification standards allow information to be captured, retrieved, aggregated, analyzed and shared across health care settings in a consistent, safe and reliable manner.

• Examples of classification standards include ICD-10-CA and CCI.
• Examples of terminologies include the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine — Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT). 
• Access to terminologies used in Canada is available from Canada Health Infoway.
   

• CIHI helps inform implementing jurisdictions of business requirements for data collection and submission.
• CIHI provides education and training on submitting interRAI data.
• CIHI can help you create a CIHI profile and request access to services.
• CIHI client service experts provide ongoing support to help organizations submit data, troubleshooting as needed. 

The Integrated interRAI Reporting System (IRRS) uses near real-time data submissions. Assessors will receive error messages and other pop-ups during assessment completion rather than via a report after quarter end. To ensure high-quality data, staff should be trained on how to resolve these notifications using a standardized approach. 

Encounters must be closed in IRRS when a person has been discharged. This is important for reporting and data quality purposes.

Doing so closes the encounter with an actual (true) discharge date, provides information on residential/living status after the encounter ended, and provides accurate counts of discharged persons, which may feed into other reports such as length of stay, client volumes and turnover analysis. 

Define a process for a person’s next due assessment by doing one of the following:

• Retaining the existing assessment cycle and completing a first assessment in IRRS at the person’s next due assessment date.
• Starting fresh in IRRS.

Note: Retaining the existing assessment cycle will allow for staggered deadlines throughout the year. Setting a standard first assessment reference date for all assessments at the start of data collection will result in subsequent assessments being due at the same time, ultimately impacting workload. 
 

There is a subset of data available through the query functionality in IRRS, as well as through your vendor software solution, that you can access to assess your data quality.

CIHI recommends working with your software vendor to review your reporting requirements and develop data quality reports that meet your specific business needs. CIHI will not be providing submission-type reports (i.e., submission, verification and data quality audit reports) for IRRS. 

Create and validate data flows and business processes early to simplify understanding of the overall process and reduce misunderstandings. Visual diagrams can be helpful. 

Map the current state and future ideal state: 

• Determine go-live dates (to adopt the assessment, to start collecting data using the new interRAI suite and to submit data to IRRS). 
• Compare and contrast what will change (clinical, technical and business processes). 
• Determine what is out of scope (e.g., private facilities) and the resulting impact on implementation. 
• Determine whether the jurisdiction will take a phased approach to implementation (e.g., 1 region at a time) and possible impacts on reporting. (CIHI does not recommend a phased approach at the facility level due to the potential impact on data quality.)

Different jurisdictions and health regions across Canada have different data flow models.

IRRS allows for near real-time submission of interRAI assessments that in turn allows more timely reporting on secure reporting platforms. By enabling organizations to submit directly to IRRS, jurisdictions and organizations would benefit from near real-time data quality checks. 

Data flows in near real-time

A6 facility/agency identifier and A6b site identifier

To set up organizations for submission, each organization will need a facility/agency identifier. In assessments, this element is A6; and in the Integrated interRAI Reporting System (IRRS), this element is iA6a. 

Facility/agency identifiers are alphanumeric codes (between 1 and 36 characters) that uniquely identify the facility or agency associated with a particular patient, encounter and assessment. 

For home care data submission, CIHI will work with jurisdictions to determine assignment of organization identifiers for A6 and A6b (e.g., region, agency, service delivery sites). The use of A6b is optional and would be useful for home care site-level reporting.

For long-term care facilities, A6 would be the facility number, often the same number that has been used for Continuing Care Reporting System (CCRS) submission, if applicable. A6b is not available for use by long-term care facilities.

Typically, the relevant government ministry or health authority generates unique organization identifiers; however, CIHI can create organization identifiers if required.

If you are a staff member at a long-term care facility and have questions about your A6 facility number, please connect with your government ministry or health authority contact.
 

Systems that are used to submit data to IRRS need to be registered. System registration must be completed prior to the start of data submission. 

Designate a person from your organization to complete system registration, or request your software vendor to complete this process on your behalf. For some systems, it may be easier to have your software vendor complete this registration.

Regardless of who completes system registration, the designated person will need to request access to the specific organization(s) they will include in their registration.

Request access

From the time it is collected until the time it is shared and used, data passes through many hands. Fostering a quality-oriented culture along the data supply chain can help people detect issues early in the process, avoiding costly fixes. 

Collecting accurate information in the assessment leads to efficiencies and better decisions, which provides a better quality of care.

Quality data helps to

• Support health care management
• Inform public policy
• Build public awareness about factors that affect health

Learn how quality data can be used to improve health care: CIHI Data Helps Battle Depression

Data quality checks help to

• Monitor and demonstrate the activity compliance, including timeliness of submissions
• Track submission activities (number of record submissions accepted, rejected or deleted in the Integrated interRAI Reporting System [IRRS])
• Measure and monitor outcomes after data quality initiatives have been implemented

Data quality activities should be monitored on an ongoing basis. In addition, data quality procedures should be reviewed regularly and updated as necessary.

To support continuous improvement, it is recommended that your organization use data quality reports. These reports should be made available in the vendor solution as discussed on the vendor solution considerations web page. 

Data quality reports complement IRRS real-time error notification by identifying common errors and flagging missing longitudinal records, such as assessment or discharge information for a person for a specified period.

• CIHI provides reporting and analysis that is refreshed at regular intervals (monthly and quarterly) via secure reports.
• CIHI can support stakeholders with custom data needs via data requests or through reports available in existing reporting tools.
• CIHI offers ongoing education and training on how to understand and use interRAI assessment information.

• Who will be interested in this information? Clients, families, media, staff, your board, others?
• What questions might you be asked? You might have to answer different types of questions for different groups, depending on their level of interest and involvement.
• When should you communicate? Timing may differ depending on the audience.
• How can you communicate with them? Consider using face-to-face communications, the web, the media, newsletters and other strategies.
   

• What are you doing well? Where is a closer look needed?
• What context can you provide to help others better understand your results?
• What actions have you taken? What actions are you going to take?
• Why is the information important? 

• Tell a story to demonstrate how the data you collected made a difference: CIHI Data Helps Put Philosophy into Practice

The IRRS reference section in CIHI’s online store will provide you with the IRRS Reference Manual, assessment mappings for all 3 assessments and our IRRS Mandatory Element Matrix.

A CIHI profile is required to access the documentation.

Go to IRRS reference materials >