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FAQsThe Western Health Information Collaborative (WHIC) is a process initiated by the Western Premiers and Deputy Ministers of Health to explore collaborative opportunities with respect to health infostructure initiatives. This collaborative has explored common opportunities that meet western provinces and territories health information needs and support the strategic directions and initiatives for health infostructure at the national level. WHIC is basically about doing better together. WHIC participants include the ministries of health for the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, and key provincial infostructure initiatives including British Columbia's HealthNet, alberta wellnet, and Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN). The Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI), Health Canada, Canada Health Infoway, Inc. (CHI), and the Western EHR Regional Collaboartive (WERC) have participated as "ex-officio" members of the collaborative. The WHIC leaders are the CIOs of the Health Ministries and CEOs of the major health information initiatives in the western provinces and territories. WHIC projects include: Provider Registry Client Registries Pharmaceutical Information Network and Standards Laboratory Information Standards Architecture Telehealth Electronic Health Records Strategy Opportunities for potential WHIC projects can be identified in various manners. Potential opportunities may be raised at WHIC Leader's meetings, received in writing by the WHIC Secretariat with a description of the potential project and explanation of how the proposed project is a potential collaborative opportunity or communicated verbally to the WHIC Secretariat. The Secretariat will gather further information, assess if there is a shared or common interest among the other jurisdictions and present an initial validation report with a recommendation to the WHIC Leaders. The WHIC Leaders then determine if the project will be accepted as a WHIC project. Access to the private site can be obtained by emailing the WHIC Secretariat at whic.sec@whic.org. Other jurisdictions interested in becoming involved in WHIC projects are welcome to contact the WHIC Secretariat and make their interest known. |
