Pharmacy teams are encouraged to begin planning to meet the requirements of ACP’s continuous quality improvement program—CQI+—which must be in place by February 1, 2026. That may seem like a long way out, but it’s never too early to get started.
Among the requirements of the CQI+ program is the online practice incident management platform that must be in place for pharmacy teams to be able to document and analyze practice incidents and close calls, document action plans, and anonymously report practice incidents and close calls to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Canada’s National Incident Data Repository for Community Pharmacies (NIDR). The NIDR is a component of the Canadian Medication Incident Reporting and Prevention System (CMIRPS), a collaborative pan-Canadian program designed to reduce and prevent harmful medication incidents. The NIDR creates a cohesive, information-sharing system that facilitates the understanding of medication incidents and close calls and the development of robust strategies to prevent patient harm.
It’s important to note that ACP will not have access to individual practice incident and close call details submitted to the NIDR.
There are several platforms available in the Canadian marketplace, some of which are listed on the CQI+ platform requirements webpage. The pharmacy team’s choice of platform must ensure that all of the CQI+ practice incident management platform requirements are satisfied. Regardless of the practice incident management platform selected, pharmacies are required to establish a Data Sharing Agreement with ISMP Canada to facilitate submission of anonymous reports to the NIDR.
Remember, the Health Information Act requires licensees to submit a site-specific privacy impact assessment (PIA) to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) any time they implement a system that collects, uses, or discloses patient-identifying information. Licensees should work with their practice incident management platform provider and OIPC to understand how information is collected, used, and disclosed to determine whether a PIA is required.
For additional information, refer to the Guide to CQI+, found on the CQI+ Resources webpage, and watch for more about CQI+ in future editions of The Link.
