Pan-Canadian HALO Specification
HALO is a standardized “visual interactive framework” that would enable web applications to plug into their existing design.
Below is a summary of the descriptions for each use case.
| Use Case | Description |
|---|---|
| UC-01: Care Provider views and selects SMART Apps that are of interest | A Care Provider wants to view available digital health services (e.g., clinical decision support tools or jurisdictional assets) integrated through SMART Apps within the Point of Care Solution and select the ones that may enhance their clinical workflow. |
| UC-02: Care Provider Accesses Additional Patient Data via SMART App | A Care Provider wants to easily view data not available within their Point of Care Solution for a given patient (e.g., data from the jurisdictional Electronic Health Record (EHR), including lab tests, summaries, and medications). |
| UC-03: Care Provider Shares Patient Data with a SMART App | A Care Provider wants to launch SMART apps from within their Point of Care Solution to access and share relevant patient information with digital health services, such as creating eReferrals, eConsults, or electronic orders, depending on jurisdictional assets. |
| UC-04: Care Provider Receives External Information via SMART App | A Care Provider would like to receive information from external applications, including SMART Apps and jurisdictional assets, back within their Point of Care Solution. |
A care provider wants to view available applications (e.g., clinical decision support tools, jurisdictional assets, digital health services) integrated through SMART Apps within the Point of Care Solution and select the ones that may enhance their clinical workflow.
Dr. Jones, a family physician, recently discovered that third-party SMART Apps have been integrated into the Point of Care Solution they regularly use at their clinic. Curious about the new capabilities, Dr. Jones logs into the Point of Care Solution to explore the available SMART Apps. After reviewing the list, Dr Jones identifies a few apps that may enhance their workflow.
| People | Systems |
|---|---|
| Care Provider: A clinician responsible for delivering care who interacts with SMART Apps to manage clinical tasks like consultations or data review. | Point of Care Solution (PoC): The clinical application used by the care provider to access and manage SMART Apps. |
| App Catalog: A restful API that provides necessary information about approved SMART Apps available within a jurisdiction for integration with the PoC Solution. |
A care provider wants to easily view data not available within their Point of Care Solution for a given patient (e.g., data from the jurisdictional Electronic Health Record (EHR), including lab tests, patient summaries, immunization records, and medication history, depending on available assets within the jurisdiction) directly from within their PoC Solution.
Dr. Smith, a family physician, is reviewing a patient's recent visit notes in her PoC Solution. She needs to check the latest lab results and immunization records, which are not available within her PoC Solution. Instead of logging into a separate system, Dr. Smith launches the Clinical Data Viewer SMART App directly from her PoC Solution. The SMART App provides seamless access to the patient's data from the jurisdictional EHR. Dr. Smith reviews the lab results, immunization records, and updates her patient notes accordingly.
| People | Systems |
|---|---|
| Care Provider: The family physician who needs to access additional patient data. | Point of Care Solution: The clinical application used by the care provider to access and manage patient information. |
| SMART App: The Clinical Data Viewer app that provides access to additional patient data. | |
| App Launcher: The interface within the PoC Solution that allows the care provider to select and launch SMART Apps. | |
| Jurisdictional EHR System: The system that stores additional patient data. |
The care provider initiates this use case when they need to access additional patient data not available in their PoC Solution by launching the appropriate SMART App from the App Launcher within the PoC Solution.
A care provider wants to launch SMART apps from within their Point of Care Solution to access and integrate digital health services, such as creating eReferrals, eConsults, electronic orders, or electronic forms. The specific services depend on what is available in their jurisdiction. In this use case, the care provider needs to share essential patient information for a particular clinical task using existing data standards, like the Pan-Canadian Patient Summary or the eReferral/eConsult standard, where applicable.
Dr. Lee, a family physician, is seeing a patient who has noticed a suspicious mole on their skin that has changed in size and color. Concerned about the potential for melanoma, Dr. Lee decides to seek the opinion of a dermatologist using the eConsult SMART App. Dr. Lee launches the eConsult SMART App from the App Launcher within the PoC Solution. The PoC Solution generates an eConsult-specific set of data for the patient in context, to be supplied to the SMART App. Dr. Lee reviews the eConsult request form with all of the necessary data pre-populated within the eConsult SMART App. After completing the consultation, Dr. Lee validates and submits the eConsult.
This scenario demonstrates a typical use case where a care provider launches an app (e.g., eConsult) from their Point of Care Solution, shares critical patient information, and completes a clinical task. It highlights the flexibility of the framework, supporting various digital health services, all following similar flows.
| People | Systems |
|---|---|
| Care Provider: The family physician initiating the eConsult and sharing patient details with the specialist. | Point of Care Solution: The clinical application used by the care provider to access and manage SMART Apps. |
| App Catalog: A restful API that provides necessary information about approved SMART Apps available within a jurisdiction for integration with the PoC Solution. | |
| SMART App: The eConsult app facilitating secure communication. | |
| Jurisdictional IDP: Authenticates the care provider’s identity. | |
| App Launcher: The interface within the PoC Solution for selecting SMART Apps. |
The care provider initiates this use case when they need to share patient information or complete a clinical task using a digital health service by launching the appropriate SMART App from the App Launcher within the PoC Solution.
A care provider would like to see updated clinical patient information in the PoC solution after clinical data is updated in the SMART App that is integrated with the PoC. The Care Provider has the ability to view the updated clinical data (e.g., view or save selected information into the Patient Chart) in the PoC.
Dr. Patel, a family physician works within their Point of Care Solution which received new lab results for a patient that have been delivered via a SMART App. After reviewing the results, Dr. Patel decides to save the key findings into the patient’s chart.
| People | Systems |
|---|---|
| Care Provider: The physician who is interacting with the PoC and receives access to new patient information. | Point of Care Solution (PoC): The clinical application used by the care provider to access and manage patient information. |
| SMART App: An app integrated with the PoC through SMART on FHIR that provides externally sourced clinical data (e.g., clinical viewer). |
The SMART App has new or updated clinical data that needs to be stored in the PoC system.
Dr. Patel, a family physician works within their Point of Care Solution which received an event notification indicating that new lab results for a patient have been written by a SMART App within the SMART on FHIR accelerator FHIR server. Based on the notification, the PoC saves the lab result information within the PoC system.
| People | Systems |
|---|---|
| Care Provider: The physician who is interacting with the PoC and receives access to new patient information. | Point of Care Solution (PoC): The clinical application used by the care provider to access and manage patient information. |
| SoFA: HALO SMART on FHIR Accelerator. | |
| SMART App: An app integrated with the PoC through SMART on FHIR that provides externally sourced clinical data (e.g., clinical viewer). |
The SMART App has new or updated clinical data that needs to be stored in the PoC system.
