Management Parameters that Canadian Practices Require
We started getting a lot more contact from organizations 
in Canada and quickly realized that our friends up North don’t have a lot of options for mental health EHRs. However, after speaking with a few of these companies about their needs, it became clear that there are certain practice management parameters that Canadian practices require. We decided to take the challenge and see if we could create functionality to fulfill these needs.
Our team collaborated with a consulting firm with extensive knowledge about using US-based EHRs in Canada, and we updated our flagship software to create a brand-new edition, PIMSY Canada. We’re proud to unveil this new niche PIMSY product and hope it will help Canadian organizations searching for a solid behavioral health EHR system.
Mental Health EHR for Canada
1. PHIPA
Probably the most crucial element of a Canadian behavioral health EMR is adherence to PHIPA, the Canadian version of HIPAA. Because PIMSY is fully HIPAA compliant, our consultants determined that the only thing missing was for us to house the data in Canada.
PIMSY’s strong HIPAA protocols covered the rest of the bases, but we still have to make the actual client data reside in Canada to compile with PHIPA. We figured out how to utilize safe + secure Azure servers within Canadian borders to meet this need. Whenever we get a Canadian customer, we ensure that all of their records are exclusively housed on servers in-country.
2. Demographic Details
Although it can seem like a minor detail, several of the leads we spoke with clearly stated that they want demographic details in their systems specific to Canada, such as the Canadian format of addresses and currency. We updated the typical format of these demographic details from American to Canadian.
3. National Identification Number
In Canada, healthcare is provided based on a national identification number. It’s similar to a social security number in the US – but is used much more widely to access care at everything from a primary care doctor – to a dentist – to a psychiatrist or therapist.
PIMSY Canada includes this number as part of the client’s primary tracking and identification throughout the system. It’s used for session notes; billing + remittance; audits; etc. – and should interface with the National Health Care system for tracking and reporting.
4. Wait List
Canada’s healthcare system often requires a more sophisticated prioritization of patient needs than in the US. To address that, we amped up PIMSY’s wait list capabilities, meaning that you can easily organize clients by length of wait time; severity; crisis; and much more.
This enhanced wait list comes standard on our Canadian Edition and should be especially helpful for our Canadian customers.
Take Away
For the past 11 years, PIMSY has provided clinicians in the US a comprehensive, customizable, flexible – and affordable mental health EHR. We’re proud to now expand this offering to Canada – and to meet the specialized needs of our neighbors to the North. PIMSY behavioral health practice management software is now available in the US, Canada and Israel.
For more details about using PIMSY contact us:
877.334.8512, ext 1 – hello@pimsyehr.com
Donna Koger
Donna Koger is the HIPAA & Security Compliance Officer at PIMSY EHR. For more electronic solutions for your agency, see Mental Health Practice Management.
