| Table 1: Provincial and territorial information sources | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province or territory* | Databases | Type of data | Information Included+ | Drug utilization review activities | Special project |
| Yukon | Chronic disease, demographic data, Pharmacare, physician claims | Multiple, linkable | Billing | Retrospective | 5-year plan to redesign computer systems |
| British Columbia, all patients | Hospital separations, long-term care, medical services, Pharmacare, vital statistics | Multiple, linkable | All | Retrospective, optimal drug use | Pharmacy network |
| Alberta | Alberta Health, Alberta Blue Cross | Multiple, linkable | NA | None | Plans for pharmacy network |
| Saskatchewan,++ all patients | Patient registry, cancer registry, hospital separations, mental health services, outpatient prescription drugs, physician services | Multiple, linkable | All | Prospective, retrospective, optimal drug use | Plans for online linkage of health districts |
| Manitoba, all patients | Registries (patient, physician, vital statistics, psychiatric services, cancer), laboratory data, hospital length-of-stay and separation data, physician services, prescription drug dispensing | Multiple, linkable | All | Prospective, optimal drug use | 5-year plan to integrate data from physicians, hospitals, laboratories, nursing homes, nursing stations and pharmacies; drug use management centre proposed |
| Ontario | Ontario Health Insurance Plan claims, Ontario Drug Benefit Plan claims | Multiple, nonlinkable | All | No formal review | Linkage of community pharmacies with health care providers |
| Quebec | Banques de données (e.g., fee-for-service and salaried physician billing, prescription drugs) | Single, linkable | All | None | Plans for pilot retrospective drug utilization review |
| New Brunswick++ | Medical procedure history, drug history file | Multiple, nonlinkable | All | Prospective, retrospective, optimal drug use | None reported |
| Nova Scotia++ | Physician billing, Pharmacare programs | Single, linkable | All | Prospective, retrospective | None reported |
| Prince Edward Island# | Physician billing, seniors Pharmacare | Multiple, nonlinkable | NA | None | Plans for pharmacy network and project to link data from hospital admissions and public health records |
| Newfoundland++ | Newfoundland Prescription Drug Program (using Greenshield data) | Multiple, nonlinkable | All | Retrospective, optimal drug use | None |
| *No data available for Northwest Territories. Databases cover patients aged 65 years and over and social-assistance recipients only unless otherwise noted.
+Databases comprise prescriber, dispenser, patient and billing information unless otherwise noted. NA = not applicable. ++Has a drug utilization research initiative. #Billing data will be available September 1996. | |||||