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Canada

CA

Healthcare System

The Canada Health Act (1984) mandates universal, comprehensive, portable, accessible, and publicly administered health insurance. Each province and territory runs its own health insurance plan. The federal government sets standards and transfers funds via the Canada Health Transfer (CHT).

System Type
Universal single-payer (Beveridge/Bismarck hybrid, provincially administered)
Regulatory Body
Health Canada (Santé Canada) — federal drug regulator. CADTH (Canadian Drug and Health Technology Agency) for reimbursement decisions. Provincial formularies managed by pCPA (pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance).
Data Protection
PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) federally; provincial equivalents (e.g., PHIPA in Ontario, Health Information Act in Alberta)
Currency
CAD
Emergency Number
911
Languages
en, fr

Coding Systems

diagnosis

ICD-10-CA

ICD-10 Canadian Modification. Maintained by CIHI (Canadian Institute for Health Information). Updated periodically; current edition aligns with WHO ICD-10 2019 base with Canadian extensions.

dental

FDI (ISO 3950)

Federation Dentaire Internationale two-digit notation used across all provinces. ODA/CDA procedure codes for billing vary by province.

procedures

CCI / provincial fee codes

Canadian Classification of Health Interventions (CCI) — CIHI standard. Provinces use their own physician procedure fee codes (e.g., OHIP fee schedule in Ontario, BCMA fee guide in BC).

drugs

DIN

Drug Identification Number — 8-digit number assigned by Health Canada to each drug product approved for sale in Canada. Equivalent in function to NDC (US) or PZN (Germany).

Translation Corridors

IN→CA (Indian immigrants bringing Indian hospital records for continuation of care) PH→CA (Filipino nurses and caregivers) CN→CA (Chinese-Canadian health records) GB→CA (British immigrants to Canada) CA→US (cross-border workers) CA→GB (Canadians emigrating to UK)

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