The Ministry of Health has made the decision to discontinue the Community Healthcare and Resource Directory (CHARD), effective immediately. This decision comes after a third-party group reviewed the effectiveness of CHARD. As a result of that group’s extensive consultation process involving family doctors and stakeholders, the ministry determined that the services offered by CHARD didn’t match doctors need.
IMAST, the Information Management and Supporting Technology working group, which supports the General Practice Services Committee, Specialist Services Committee and Shared Care Committee, will set principles and parameters for funding IT (including specialist matching services and community resource directories) to ensure sustainability, security, privacy and standardization. It is part of IMAST’s work to determine a provincial response to technology strategies, which will influence all joint collaborative committees, and will take some time to complete.