ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW NATIONAL HEALTH RESEARCH NETWORK

First pan-Canadian chronic disease surveillance network gives family doctors new insight into patient health and care

To view the Social Media Release please visit the following link:
http://smr.newswire.ca/en/college-of-family-physicians-of-canada/first-pan-canadian-multi-disease-surveillance-network

VANCOUVER, Oct. 14 /CNW/ - Family doctors and health planners now have access to greater health information, thanks to a new and secure source of pan-Canadian health data launched today at Family Medicine Forum 2010 in Vancouver.

The Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) is a ground-breaking initiative—the first of its kind in Canada —to help family physicians better understand and manage the chronic diseases affecting their patients, as well as health planners who face the challenge of tracking where chronic disease is happening among Canadians and why.

CPCSSN:

• Sub-entity of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), in collaboration with the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
• $11.7 million in funding over the next five years from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).
• Securely collects chronic disease information from patients' electronic medical records (EMRs).
• Focuses on collecting data on five chronic diseases - hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), depression and osteoarthritis.
• Privacy and security of the data is paramount. All patient identifying information is removed. During the transfer of data from one location to another, both the information itself and the channels through which it travels are encrypted and password-protected. This process has been scrutinized and approved by a Research Ethics Board in every province in which CPCSSN operates. The process has also been approved by Health Canada's Research Ethics Board.

Over the next five years, CPCSSN's central repository of surveillance data will provide physicians, health planners and researchers with a detailed understanding of the prevalence and progression of chronic disease in Canada. Since the data will be both longitudinal and current, policy makers and researchers will be able to understand today's trends and historic patterns.  CPCSSN reports, available and sent to physician sentinels quarterly, will also allow these participating family doctors to identify best practices in the prevention, control and management of chronic diseases.

More information is available in the social media release: http://smr.newswire.ca/en/college-of-family-physicians-of-canada/first-pan-canadian-multi-disease-surveillance-network
An audiocast of the launch event is available:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=3240820

For further information:

or interview requests:

Wendy Cumming
Blueprint Public Relations 
[phone]
[email protected]