System Transitions
A launch is a major transitional event, from one way of managing information to use of new tools and processes. But there are many other transitions in play as Connect Care implements province-wide in multiple waves from late 2019 to late 2024.
Conversion
Data conversion is about how historical health information is selected and managed for transfer to the Connect Care clinical information system (CIS). The types and amounts of data that can be converted from prior systems for inclusion in Connect Care at launch has been determined. The processes are largely automated and require physician awareness, not involvement.
Abstraction
Conversion provides valuable but insufficient launch-priming of Connect Care charts. Abstraction occurs in the outpatient context. Prior ambulatory care records (electronic and/or digital) are reviewed and key summative information is brought into the Connect Care record to ease transitions and assure patient safety.
Cutover
Cutover is the inpatient equivalent of outpatient chart abstraction. Key information is transferred from legacy inpatient medical records to the new Connect Care record that becomes the legal record of care at launch.
Legacy Systems
Legacy clinical information systems are pre-Connect Care systems that are retired when Connect Care launches in a particular facility, program or zone. Key information is converted from the legacy system to appear in Connect Care. However, significant information may remain in the legacy system. Accordingly, these systems are made available, usually in a read-only state, for reference for a mandated period of time post-retirement. Different processes may be used by authorized users to gain access to information in legacy systems.
Interim States
While Connect Care is a fully integrated clinical information system, it may depend upon other health information systems for some core data types while system implementation progresses, launch-by-launch, across Alberta.
Interim states occur when Connect Care interoperates with an external health information system (e.g., laboratory services, pharmacy services) ultimately to be replaced by Connect Care functionality. The (temporary) dependency may require workflows different from those pertaining where Connect Care is fully deployed.